In her large-scale sculpture Casa-Isla, artist Edra Soto included references to her childhood in Puerto Rico. For example, the sculpture's...

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 large-scale sculpture Casa-Isla,
  • artist Edra Soto included references to her childhood in Puerto Rico.

• For example,
  • the sculpture's steel panels have a crisscrossing pattern
    • inspired by the iron gates (?) Soto would see / would ... see (?) in her neighborhood (. / ?)

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

The first sentence tells us:

• 'In her large-scale sculpture Casa-Isla, artist Edra Soto included references to her childhood in Puerto Rico.'
  • So Soto created a sculpture that includes elements from her childhood memories.

Now the second sentence gives us a specific example:

• 'For example, the sculpture's steel panels have a crisscrossing pattern...'
  • The sculpture has panels with a crisscross design

• '...inspired by the iron gates'
  • This pattern came from iron gates she remembered

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

• Some have "Soto would see" and some have "would Soto see"
• Some end with a period, some with a question mark

To see what works here, let's understand what the complete sentence is telling us!

The complete thought is:

• The steel panels have a pattern
• This pattern was inspired by iron gates
• These were the specific iron gates that Soto would see in her neighborhood
  • (back when she was a child in Puerto Rico)

So the sentence is describing WHICH iron gates inspired the pattern - the gates from her childhood neighborhood.

What do we notice about the structure here?

• The phrase "Soto would see in her neighborhood" is describing the iron gates
  • It's telling us which gates we're talking about
  • It's like saying "the gates THAT Soto would see" (the word "that" is just understood here)

• This is a descriptive phrase, not a question
  • We're not asking "Would Soto see iron gates?"
  • We're stating a fact: these ARE the gates Soto would see

• When we're describing something (not asking a question), we use normal word order:
  • Subject + verb = "Soto would see" tick mark
  • NOT question word order = "would Soto see" cross

• And since the whole sentence is making a statement (not asking anything), it needs a period, not a question mark.

So we need: Soto would see in her neighborhood.

The correct answer is Choice B.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Word Order in Descriptive Clauses vs. Direct Questions

When you're describing something by telling more about it (called a relative or adjective clause in grammar terms), you use normal statement word order - even if the verb is "would," "could," "might," etc.

Pattern for descriptive clauses:

• "the gates that Soto would see" (subject + verb)
• "the book that she might read" (subject + verb)
• "the place where we could go" (subject + verb)

Pattern for actual questions:

• "Would Soto see the gates?" (verb + subject)
• "Might she read the book?" (verb + subject)
• "Could we go to that place?" (verb + subject)

In this question:

• We're describing which iron gates inspired the pattern
• It's the gates "that Soto would see in her neighborhood"
• This is a descriptive clause, not a question
• So we need: statement word order ("Soto would see") + period
• The sentence is telling us a fact about the sculpture, not asking anything

Key principle: Don't let words like "would" or "could" trick you into thinking something is a question. Look at the function: if it's describing or identifying something, use statement word order and statement punctuation.