Detroit natives Timothy Paule and Nicole Lindsey have combined their two passions, Detroit and beekeeping, to improve the health of...

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

• Detroit natives Timothy Paule and Nicole Lindsey
  • have combined their two passions, Detroit and beekeeping,
    • to improve the health of their city's flowers and other vegetation.

• In 2017,
• the couple converted a vacant lot in the city
  • into an apiary [?]
• in the years that followed
• they acquired nine additional lots
  • and
  • established more than 35 hives.

• [?] = comma / and / both / neither

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence gives us the background:

• Timothy Paule and Nicole Lindsey are from Detroit
• They love both their city and beekeeping
• They're using these passions to help the city's plants

Now the second sentence tells us what they actually did:

• In 2017, the couple converted a vacant lot in the city into an ______
  • They took an empty piece of land
  • They turned it into an apiary (a place where bees are kept)

This is where we have the blank.

Let's look at the choices:

• A: "apiary," (just a comma)
• B: "apiary, and" (comma plus "and")
• C: "apiary and" (just "and")
• D: "apiary" (nothing)

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

The sentence continues:

• in the years that followed they acquired nine additional lots and established more than 35 hives
  • After that first lot in 2017
  • They got nine MORE lots
  • And they set up more than 35 beehives total

So the complete picture is:

• First action (2017): converted one lot into an apiary
• Second action (later years): acquired nine more lots and established 35+ hives

What do we notice about the structure here?

We have two complete thoughts being connected:

• First complete thought: "In 2017, the couple converted a vacant lot in the city into an apiary"
  • Has its own subject ("the couple")
  • Has its own verb ("converted")
  • Could stand alone as a sentence

• Second complete thought: "in the years that followed they acquired nine additional lots and established more than 35 hives"
  • Has its own subject ("they")
  • Has its own verbs ("acquired" and "established")
  • Could also stand alone as a sentence

When we want to join two complete thoughts into one sentence, we need a comma + a coordinating word like "and."

So we need: "apiary, and"

The correct answer is Choice B.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Joining Two Complete Thoughts with a Comma and Coordinating Conjunction

When you want to combine two complete thoughts (called independent clauses in grammar terms) into a single sentence, you need a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction like "and," "but," or "so":

Pattern: [Complete thought], and [complete thought]

Example 1:

• Complete thought 1: "The scientist conducted the experiment"
• Complete thought 2: "The results were surprising"
• Combined: The scientist conducted the experiment, and the results were surprising.

Example 2:

• Complete thought 1: "Maria studied for three hours"
• Complete thought 2: "She felt confident about the test"
• Combined: Maria studied for three hours, and she felt confident about the test.

In this question:

• Complete thought 1: "In 2017, the couple converted a vacant lot in the city into an apiary"
• Complete thought 2: "in the years that followed they acquired nine additional lots and established more than 35 hives"
• Combined: In 2017, the couple converted a vacant lot in the city into an apiary, and in the years that followed they acquired nine additional lots and established more than 35 hives.

The comma + "and" work together to properly join these two complete thoughts into one flowing sentence.