In ancient Greece, an Epicurean was a follower of Epicurus, a philosopher whose beliefs revolved around the pursuit of pleasure....

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

• In ancient Greece,
  • an Epicurean was a follower of Epicurus,
    • a philosopher
      • whose beliefs revolved around the pursuit of pleasure.

• Epicurus defined pleasure as
  • 'the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul(?) positing
    • that all life's virtues derived from this absence.

• Where (?) = what varies: comma/colon/semicolon/period + lowercase/uppercase

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start from the beginning:

In ancient Greece, an Epicurean was a follower of Epicurus, a philosopher whose beliefs revolved around the pursuit of pleasure.

• This gives us background about who Epicurus was and what he believed in.

Now the next sentence:

Epicurus defined pleasure as 'the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul'

• So Epicurus had a very specific definition of pleasure
• It wasn't about seeking thrills or excitement
• Instead, pleasure meant NOT having pain (in the body) and NOT having trouble (in the soul)

This is where we have the blank.

Let's look at the choices:

• A offers: soul,' positing (comma, then lowercase "positing")
• B offers: soul': positing (colon, then lowercase "positing")
• C offers: soul'; positing (semicolon, then lowercase "positing")
• D offers: soul.' Positing (period, then capital "Positing")

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

"positing that all life's virtues derived from this absence"

• "Positing" means asserting or claiming something
• So this phrase is telling us that Epicurus was asserting or claiming something when he gave this definition
• Specifically, he was claiming that all of life's virtues came from this absence of pain and trouble

Now let's understand what this whole part is doing:

• "Epicurus defined pleasure as 'the absence of pain...'"
  • This is the main action - what Epicurus did

• "positing that all life's virtues derived from this absence"
  • This is NOT a separate complete thought
  • It's adding information about HOW Epicurus defined pleasure
  • It's describing what claim he was making when he gave this definition

What do we notice about the structure here?

• The first part is a complete thought that could stand alone:
  • "Epicurus defined pleasure as 'the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul'"

• The second part "positing that..." is an -ing phrase that adds descriptive information:
  • It can't stand alone as a sentence
  • It's attached to the main action, describing it further

When we have a complete thought followed by an -ing phrase that adds descriptive information, we use a comma to connect them.

So we need Choice A: soul,' positing - a comma after the closing quotation mark, followed by lowercase "positing."

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Commas with Descriptive -ing Phrases

When you have a complete thought followed by an -ing phrase (called a participial phrase in grammar terms) that adds descriptive information about the action, you use a comma to connect them:

Pattern: [Complete clause], [-ing phrase that describes the action]

Example 1:

• The scientist announced her findings, revealing that previous theories were incorrect.
  • "The scientist announced her findings" = complete thought
  • "revealing that..." = -ing phrase adding information about how she announced them

Example 2:

• The company launched its new product, claiming it would revolutionize the industry.
  • "The company launched its new product" = complete thought
  • "claiming it..." = -ing phrase adding information about what the company said

In this question:

• "Epicurus defined pleasure as 'the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul'" = complete thought
• "positing that all life's virtues derived from this absence" = -ing phrase adding information about what Epicurus was asserting with this definition

The comma correctly introduces the descriptive -ing phrase that tells us more about the main action.