After immigrating from Mexico and obtaining U.S. citizenship, Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo entered politics, earning a reputation for being a fervent...

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 immigrating from Mexico and obtaining U.S. citizenship,
  • - Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo
    • entered politics,
      • earning a reputation for being a fervent defender of Hispanic civil rights.

• In 1919 Larrazolo
  • was elected governor of New Mexico [?]
• in 1928 he
  • became the nation's first Hispanic U.S. Senator.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence gives us background about Larrazolo:

• After immigrating from Mexico and becoming a U.S. citizen,
• he entered politics
• and earned a reputation for defending Hispanic civil rights.

Now the second sentence tells us about specific achievements in his career:

• "In 1919 Larrazolo was elected governor of New Mexico"

This is where we have the blank. Let's look at our choices:

• Choice A: "New Mexico and"
• Choice B: "New Mexico,"
• Choice C: "New Mexico, and"
• Choice D: "New Mexico"

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

The sentence continues:

• "in 1928 he became the nation's first Hispanic U.S. Senator."

So we have two achievements being listed:

• First achievement: In 1919 - elected governor of New Mexico
• Second achievement: In 1928 - became first Hispanic U.S. Senator

What do we notice about the structure here?

Each of these parts could stand alone as a complete sentence:

• "In 1919 Larrazolo was elected governor of New Mexico." Complete thought
• "In 1928 he became the nation's first Hispanic U.S. Senator." Complete thought

When we want to connect two complete thoughts in a single sentence, we have some options:

• Use a comma plus a connecting word like "and"
• Use a semicolon
• Make them separate sentences

Here, "and" makes perfect sense because we're adding information - listing his achievements in sequence. But when we use "and" to connect two complete thoughts, we need a comma before it.

So we need: "New Mexico, and"

The correct answer is Choice C.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Connecting Two Complete Thoughts

When you have two complete thoughts (called independent clauses in grammar terms) that you want to put in a single sentence, you need proper connection:

Option 1: Comma + Coordinating Conjunction

• Two thoughts: "Larrazolo was elected governor in 1919" + "He became a U.S. Senator in 1928"
• Connected properly: "Larrazolo was elected governor in 1919, and he became a U.S. Senator in 1928"
• The comma + "and" creates the proper bridge between the two complete thoughts

Option 2: Semicolon

• "Larrazolo was elected governor in 1919; in 1928 he became a U.S. Senator"

Option 3: Separate Sentences

• "Larrazolo was elected governor in 1919. In 1928 he became a U.S. Senator."

What DOESN'T work:

• Just "and" without a comma (when connecting complete thoughts)
• Just a comma alone (comma splice)
• No punctuation (run-on)

In this question: The sentence presents two complete thoughts about Larrazolo's achievements, and since they're being added together in a sequence, "and" is the logical connector. But because both parts are complete thoughts, we need the comma before "and" - making "New Mexico, and" the correct answer.