Digital artist Jung (Lulu) Chen primarily uses a suite of software tools to create illustrations for children's books. To manifest...

Sentence Structure

• Digital artist Jung (Lulu) Chen
  • primarily uses a suite of software tools
    • to create illustrations for children's books.

• To manifest the warm and welcoming atmospheres
  • that are a signature of her work (?) though (?)
• she occasionally relies on more traditional art techniques,
  • such as painting with watercolors.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start from the beginning to understand what this passage is telling us:

The first sentence gives us background:

• Digital artist Jung (Lulu) Chen primarily uses software tools
  • She's a digital artist
  • Her main method is using software to create illustrations for children's books

Now the second sentence adds more detail:

• "To manifest the warm and welcoming atmospheres that are a signature of her work..."
  • This is explaining a goal or purpose
  • Her work is known for creating warm, welcoming atmospheres
  • This is her signature style

Here's where we have the blank: "work ______ she occasionally relies..."

Let's look at the choices:

• They all include "though" but with different comma and semicolon placements
• We're deciding how to punctuate around this word "though"

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

• "she occasionally relies on more traditional art techniques, such as painting with watercolors"

Now let's understand the complete picture:

• The first sentence told us she PRIMARILY uses digital/software tools
• But this second sentence reveals that THOUGH she's a digital artist,
  • she occasionally uses TRADITIONAL techniques (watercolors)
  • specifically to create those warm atmospheres that define her work

• So there's a contrast here:
  • She's known for digital work
  • But she uses traditional techniques too

• The word "though" is signaling this contrast

What do we notice about the structure here?

• "To manifest... her work" is an introductory phrase
  • It sets up the purpose or reason
  • It needs a comma after it

• "though" is functioning as an interrupting word
  • It's positioned between the introductory phrase and the main part
  • It's showing the contrast between her digital reputation and traditional techniques

• "she occasionally relies..." is the main statement
  • Subject: she
  • Verb: relies

• When a word like "though" interrupts in the middle like this,
  • it needs to be set off with commas on BOTH sides
  • This creates: [intro phrase], though, [main statement]

So we need: "work, though, she occasionally..."

The correct answer is Choice A: work, though,

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Commas with Interrupting Transitional Words

When a transitional word like "though," "however," or "therefore" appears in the middle of a sentence (not at the beginning), it often functions as an interrupter that should be enclosed in commas on both sides:

Pattern:

• [First part of sentence], [transitional word], [rest of sentence]

Examples:

• Without interrupter: The team practiced for months and won the championship.
• With interrupter: The team practiced for months, however, and won the championship.
  • "however" interrupts to show contrast
  • Commas on both sides set it off

• Another example: She preferred digital art, though, and rarely used paint.
  • "though" signals a contrast or concession
  • Enclosed in commas because it's interrupting

In this question:

• "To manifest the warm and welcoming atmospheres that are a signature of her work, though, she occasionally relies on more traditional art techniques"
• The introductory phrase ends with a comma
• "though" interrupts to signal the contrast
• A second comma after "though" completes the enclosure
• Then the main clause continues smoothly

This punctuation pattern helps readers understand that the transitional word is adding commentary or showing a relationship between ideas, rather than being part of the main flow of the sentence.