During the height of the Cold War, the policies of Soviet leader Nikita ______ initiated a period of de-Stalinization that...

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 height of the Cold War,
  • the policies
    • of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (?)
    • initiated a period of de-Stalinization
      • that fundamentally transformed domestic policy and international relations.

Where (?) represents what varies in the choices:

• A. comma
• B. comma and "and"
• C. "and"
• D. nothing

Understanding the Meaning

Let's read from the beginning:

• 'During the height of the Cold War,'
  • This sets the time context - we're talking about when Cold War tensions were at their peak.

• 'the policies'
  • This is what the sentence is about - certain policies
  • This is our subject - what's doing the action

• 'of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev'
  • This tells us which policies - the ones belonging to Khrushchev
  • Khrushchev was the Soviet leader

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank: 'Nikita Khrushchev ______ initiated'

Let's look at our choices:

• They're asking whether we need a comma, "and," both, or neither after "Khrushchev"

Based on what we've read, let's think about the structure:

• 'The policies of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev' is our complete subject
  • It's telling us whose policies we're talking about
  • "Nikita Khrushchev" is simply the last part of that subject phrase

• 'initiated' is the verb - it's what the policies did

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have a complete subject that needs to connect directly to its verb
• "Khrushchev" isn't something separate that needs punctuation after it - it's just the final word in the subject phrase
• The subject should flow straight into the verb without any interruption

So we need: Choice D - no punctuation or words after Khrushchev.

The subject "the policies of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev" should connect directly to the verb "initiated."

Now let's read the rest to see the complete picture:

• 'initiated a period of de-Stalinization'
  • The policies started (initiated) a time period called "de-Stalinization"
  • This means moving away from Stalin's policies and style of leadership

• 'that fundamentally transformed domestic policy and international relations'
  • This de-Stalinization period deeply changed both domestic matters (inside the Soviet Union) and how the Soviets related to other countries

The complete meaning: During the peak of the Cold War, Khrushchev's policies started a major shift away from Stalin's approach, which changed both internal Soviet policies and how they dealt with the rest of the world.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Connecting Subjects and Verbs Without Interruption

A fundamental rule in English: the subject of a sentence should connect directly to its verb without punctuation separating them. This is true even when the subject is long and complex.

The Pattern:

• Simple subject + verb: The dog barked.
• Complex subject + verb: The policies of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev initiated...

Even though the subject in the second example is much longer and includes multiple descriptive elements, it still connects directly to the verb "initiated" without any comma.

What NOT to do:

• The policies of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, initiated...
  • This comma incorrectly separates subject from verb

When you DO use a comma:

Only when you're inserting extra, non-essential descriptive information between the subject and verb:

• The policies, which were controversial at the time, initiated...
  • Here the commas set off extra information that could be removed

In this question:

• Subject: "the policies of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev"
• Verb: "initiated"
• Connection: direct, no punctuation needed
• The complete subject phrase flows straight into the verb