Azulejos, mosaics made of glazed ceramic tiles, can be found throughout Portugal. These mosaics beautify places such as ________ stations,...

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

• Azulejos,
  • mosaics made of glazed ceramic tiles,
  • can be found throughout Portugal.

• These mosaics beautify places
  • such as libraries [?] train stations, and public squares.

Understanding the Meaning

First, let's understand what we're talking about:

• 'Azulejos, mosaics made of glazed ceramic tiles, can be found throughout Portugal.'
  • Azulejos are a type of mosaic made from glazed ceramic tiles
  • They're found all over Portugal

Now the second sentence:

• 'These mosaics beautify places such as...'
  • The azulejos make certain places beautiful
  • 'Such as' tells us examples are coming

This is where we have the blank.

Let's look at the choices:

• A gives us: "libraries train" (no punctuation)
• B gives us: "libraries: train" (colon)
• C gives us: "libraries—train" (dash)
• D gives us: "libraries, train" (comma)

To see what works here, let's read the complete phrase and understand what it's saying!

• 'places such as libraries [?] train stations, and public squares'

Now let's understand what this is telling us:

• We have multiple examples of places:
  • libraries
  • train stations
  • public squares

• These are three separate types of places
  • Each one is a distinct example of where azulejos can be found

What do we notice about the structure here?

• This is a list of three items being introduced by 'such as'
  • When we list three or more items, we need commas to separate them
  • The pattern is: Item 1, Item 2, and Item 3

• Without a comma after "libraries," we get "libraries train stations"
  • This runs two separate items together
  • It's unclear and could be misread

So we need a comma after "libraries" to properly separate the items in this list.

The correct answer is D: "libraries, train stations, and public squares"

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Commas to Separate Items in a List

When you're listing three or more items in a series, you use commas to separate them (called a serial comma or list comma in grammar terms). The standard pattern is:

Pattern: Item 1, Item 2, and Item 3

Example 1:

• Without proper punctuation: "We visited museums parks and restaurants"
• With commas: "We visited museums, parks, and restaurants"
• Three places: museums / parks / restaurants
• Commas make the separation clear

Example 2:

• "The study examined students, teachers, and administrators"
• Three groups: students / teachers / administrators
• Each separated by a comma

In this question:

• "places such as libraries, train stations, and public squares"
• Three types of places: libraries / train stations / public squares
• The comma after "libraries" is essential to separate the first item from the second item
• Without it, "libraries train stations" runs together and creates confusion