In her analysis of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth (1905), scholar Candace Waid observes that the novel depicts the...

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 her analysis of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth (1905),
  • scholar Candace Waid
    • observes that
      • the novel depicts the upper classes of New York society
        • as 'consumed by the appetite of a soulless materialism[?]
          • an apt assessment
            • given that The House of Mirth is set during the Gilded Age,
              • a period marked by rapid industrialization,
                • economic greed,
                • and widening wealth disparities.

Understanding the Meaning

The sentence starts by setting the context:

• 'In her analysis of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth (1905)'
  • We're talking about a scholar analyzing a novel

Then we learn what the scholar observed:

• 'scholar Candace Waid observes that the novel depicts the upper classes of New York society as...'
  • This is introducing what Waid says about the novel

Here comes a quotation - Waid's actual words:

• 'consumed by the appetite of a soulless materialism...'
  • This is how Waid describes the upper classes in the novel
  • They're consumed by materialism - caring only about material wealth and possessions

This is where we have the blank - right after "materialism."

Let's look at the choices:

• All of them close the quotation mark (the ')
• But they differ in what punctuation comes after: semicolon vs comma vs nothing
• Some include "and"

To see what works here, let's read what comes next and understand what it's saying!

After the blank, the sentence continues:

• 'an apt assessment'
  • "Apt" means fitting or appropriate
  • So this phrase is saying that Waid's observation is a fitting description

Then we get the explanation of WHY it's apt:

• 'given that The House of Mirth is set during the Gilded Age'
  • The Gilded Age was a specific historical period
• 'a period marked by rapid industrialization, economic greed, and widening wealth disparities'
  • This describes what the Gilded Age was like - exactly the kind of era where materialism would be prominent

Now, what do we notice about the structure here?

After the quotation ends, we have:

• "an apt assessment given that..." - this is a noun phrase
  • It's providing additional commentary about the quotation that just ended
  • It's saying "that observation I just quoted is appropriate because..."

This phrase is not a complete thought that could stand alone:

• You can't say "An apt assessment given that..." as its own sentence
• It's adding descriptive information about what came before

When you have a noun phrase that provides additional descriptive information about a preceding statement, you use a comma to set it off:

• The comma signals: "Here's some additional commentary about what I just said"
• This is the "noun + descriptive modifier" pattern

So we need:

• Close the quotation: materialism'
• Add a comma to introduce the descriptive phrase: ,

The correct answer is C: materialism',

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Commas to Set Off Descriptive Noun Phrases

When you want to add a noun phrase that provides additional commentary or description about a statement you just made, you use a comma to introduce that phrase (this is called an appositive structure in grammar terms). The pattern looks like this:

Pattern: [Statement], [noun phrase adding information]

Example 1:

• Without the phrase: "The researcher made a surprising discovery"
• With descriptive phrase: "The researcher made a surprising discovery, a finding that would overturn current theories"
  • "a finding" = noun
  • "that would overturn current theories" = modifier describing the finding
  • The comma signals this phrase is adding commentary about the discovery

Example 2:

• Without the phrase: "The company announced bankruptcy"
• With descriptive phrase: "The company announced bankruptcy, a decision that shocked investors"
  • "a decision" = noun referring back to the announcement
  • The comma sets off this additional information

In our question:

• Statement: "observes that the novel depicts the upper classes as 'consumed by the appetite of a soulless materialism'"
• Descriptive phrase: "an apt assessment given that..."
  • "an apt assessment" = noun phrase commenting on the observation
  • "given that..." = modifier explaining why it's apt
  • The comma after materialism', signals that additional commentary is being provided

This pattern helps readers understand: "I just told you something, and now I'm adding a description or comment about what I just said."