In crafting her fantasy fiction, Nigerian-born British author Helen Oyeyemi has drawn inspiration from the classic nineteenth-century fairy tales 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

Sentence 1:

• In crafting her fantasy fiction,
• Nigerian-born British author Helen Oyeyemi
  • has drawn inspiration
    • from the classic nineteenth-century fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.

Sentence 2:

• Her 2014 novel Boy, Snow, Bird,
  • for instance,
  • is a complex retelling
    • of the story of Snow White,
• while her 2019 novel Gingerbread
  • offers a delicious twist
    • on the classic tale of Hansel and Gretel.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence tells us that Helen Oyeyemi, a Nigerian-born British author, draws inspiration from Brothers Grimm fairy tales when she writes her fantasy fiction.

The second sentence gives us specific examples of this influence:

First example:

• Her 2014 novel "Boy, Snow, Bird" (the "for instance" signals we're getting an example) is described as "a complex retelling of the story of Snow White."

Now we get a second example:

• "while her 2019 novel Gingerbread"

This is where we have the blank. Let's look at the choices:

• A: dash after Gingerbread
• B: comma after Gingerbread
• C: no punctuation after Gingerbread
• D: colon after Gingerbread

To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence!

The sentence continues: "offers a delicious twist on the classic tale of Hansel and Gretel."

Now let's understand what the structure is telling us:

• "her 2019 novel Gingerbread" is the subject of this part
  • "her 2019 novel" = the noun phrase
  • "Gingerbread" = the title/name of that novel
  • Together they form one complete subject
• "offers" is the verb
  • This tells us what the novel does
• "a delicious twist on the classic tale of Hansel and Gretel"
  • This is what the novel offers

What do we notice about the structure here?

• The title "Gingerbread" is part of the subject - it's the name of the novel.
  • The complete subject is "her 2019 novel Gingerbread"
  • This subject needs to flow directly to its verb "offers"
  • Nothing should interrupt the connection between a subject and its verb

Think of it like saying: "The book Frankenstein tells a scary story."

• You wouldn't write: "The book Frankenstein, tells a scary story."
• The title is part of the subject and connects directly to the verb.

So we need no punctuation after Gingerbread.

The correct answer is C.

Grammar Concept Applied

Keeping Subjects and Verbs Connected

One of the fundamental rules of sentence structure is that a subject should connect directly to its verb without punctuation separating them.

When a title is part of a noun phrase that serves as the subject, it flows directly to the verb:

Pattern:

• [Noun phrase including title] + [verb] ✓
• [Noun phrase including title] + [punctuation] + [verb] ✗

Examples:

Correct: The novel Beloved explores themes of memory and trauma.

• Subject: "The novel Beloved"
• Verb: "explores"
• No punctuation between them

Incorrect: The novel Beloved, explores themes of memory and trauma.

• The comma wrongly separates subject from verb

In our question:

• Subject: "her 2019 novel Gingerbread"
• Verb: "offers"
• These must connect directly: "her 2019 novel Gingerbread offers..."

The only exception is when you have an interrupting element (like "for instance" or "however") that you're deliberately inserting between subject and verb - and that interrupting element gets set off by two commas or dashes (one on each side). But that's not the case here.