During the Age of Exploration, European sailors developed increasingly sophisticated navigation techniques. Maritime historians continue to examine th...

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

• During the Age of Exploration,
  • European sailors
    • developed increasingly sophisticated navigation techniques.

• Maritime historians
  • continue to examine the question of how [sailors navigated/did sailors navigate]
    • successfully [./?]

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

During the Age of Exploration,
European sailors developed increasingly sophisticated navigation techniques.

This first sentence gives us historical context:

• It's telling us that during a specific historical period,
• sailors got better and better at finding their way across the seas.

Now the second sentence:

Maritime historians continue to examine the question of how ______

Let me pause here - this is where we have our blank. Let's look at what the choices are asking us to decide:

• Should we use standard word order ("sailors navigated") or question word order ("did sailors navigate")?
• Should we end with a period or a question mark?

To see what works here, let's understand what this sentence is really saying!

The key phrase is: "the question of how"

• The historians are examining a question
• They're studying this question
• They're not asking the question themselves right now

This is what we call an indirect question:

• We're talking ABOUT a question (what historians are examining)
• We're not directly ASKING a question ourselves

Think about the difference:

• Direct question (asking it): "How did sailors navigate successfully?"
  - This uses question word order: "did sailors navigate"
  - This ends with a question mark
• Indirect question (talking about it): "...the question of how sailors navigated successfully."
  - This uses regular statement word order: "sailors navigated"
  - This ends with a period (because the whole sentence is a statement about what historians do)

What do we notice about our sentence?

• It's a statement about what historians continue to do
• It's not asking us a question
• After "the question of how," we need to use regular statement word order

So we need: "sailors navigated successfully" with a period.

The answer is Choice A.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Direct Questions vs. Indirect Questions

When you're actually asking a question, you use a direct question with special word order and a question mark. But when you're talking ABOUT a question or reporting what someone wonders, you use an indirect question (called an embedded question in grammar terms) with regular word order and normal punctuation.

Direct Question Pattern:

• Question word + helping verb + subject + main verb + ?
• Example: "How did sailors navigate successfully?"
• Uses inverted order (verb before subject) and question mark

Indirect Question Pattern:

• Statement structure + question word + subject + verb + regular punctuation
• Example: "They examine the question of how sailors navigated successfully."
• Uses standard order (subject before verb) and period

Common phrases that introduce indirect questions:

• "the question of [how/why/whether/what]..."
• "I wonder [how/why/whether/what]..."
• "They asked [how/why/whether/what]..."
• "We're examining [how/why/whether/what]..."

In this question:

• The phrase "the question of how" signals an indirect question
• So we need: standard word order ("sailors navigated") + period
• This creates: "Maritime historians continue to examine the question of how sailors navigated successfully."