After a spate of illnesses as a child, Wilma Rudolph was told she might never walk again. Defying all odds,...

SOLUTION

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• After a spate of illnesses as a child,
• Wilma Rudolph was told she might never walk again.
• Defying all odds,
• Rudolph didn't just walk,
• she ran—fast [?] the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome,
• she won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes and clinched first place for her team in the 4x100-meter relay,
  • becoming the first US woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence sets up the background:

• After a spate of illnesses as a child,
  • She had many illnesses when she was young
• Wilma Rudolph was told she might never walk again.
  • Doctors said she might never be able to walk

Then we get the dramatic contrast:

• Defying all odds,
  • Going against what everyone expected
• Rudolph didn't just walk,
  • She didn't just achieve the basic thing (walking)

Now here's where we have the blank:

• she ran—fast [?]

Let's look at our choices to see what we're deciding:

1. ran—fast—during
2. ran—fast during
3. ran—fast, during
4. ran—fast. During

We're deciding what punctuation (if any) should come after "fast."

To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying!

The text continues:

• during the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome,
  • This tells us WHEN
• she won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes and clinched first place for her team in the 4x100-meter relay,
  • These are her specific achievements at those Olympics
• becoming the first US woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics.
  • This describes the historic significance of what she accomplished

Now let's understand what this is telling us structurally:

• "she ran—fast"
  • This is a complete thought by itself
  • Subject: she
  • Verb: ran
  • How she ran: fast
• "During the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, she won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes and clinched first place for her team in the 4x100-meter relay"
  • This is also a complete thought that could stand on its own
  • It has its own subject: she
  • It has its own verb: won and clinched
  • "During the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome" is a time phrase telling us when she won

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have two complete thoughts:
  • "she ran—fast"
  • "During the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, she won..."
• When you have two complete thoughts that could each stand as their own sentence, you need to separate them properly
• You cannot join two complete thoughts with just a comma (that creates what's called a comma splice)
• You cannot run them together without punctuation (that creates a run-on)
• You need a period to make them two separate sentences, OR you need a semicolon, OR you need a comma with a connecting word like "and"

So we need: Choice D (ran—fast. During)

This correctly uses a period to separate these two complete thoughts into two proper sentences.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Separating Complete Thoughts

When you have two complete thoughts (called independent clauses in grammar terms)—each with its own subject and verb that could stand alone as a sentence—you need to separate them properly.

Three correct ways to handle two complete thoughts:

1. Make them separate sentences with a period:
   • She ran—fast. During the 1960 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals.
2. Join them with a semicolon:
   • She ran—fast; during the 1960 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals.
3. Join them with a comma + coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so, yet, for, nor):
   • She ran—fast, and during the 1960 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals.

Two common errors to avoid:

✗ Comma splice: Using only a comma to join two complete thoughts

• She ran—fast, during the 1960 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals. (WRONG)

✗ Run-on sentence: Running two complete thoughts together without punctuation

• She ran—fast during the 1960 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals. (WRONG)

In this question:

• "she ran—fast" = complete thought
• "During the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, she won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes and clinched first place for her team in the 4x100-meter relay" = complete thought
• Therefore, we need a period to separate them into two proper sentences