Julia Alvarez's 1994 novel In the Time of the Butterflies, a fictionalized account of the lives of the Mirabal ______...

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

• Julia Alvarez's 1994 novel In the Time of the Butterflies,
  • a fictionalized account
    • of the lives of the Mirabal sisters (?),
• can serve as a starting point
  • for those wanting to explore
    • how the rule of dictator Rafael Trujillo
      • has been represented
        • in Dominican American literature.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

The subject of the sentence is:

• 'Julia Alvarez's 1994 novel In the Time of the Butterflies'

Then we have a comma, followed by:

• 'a fictionalized account of the lives of the Mirabal sisters'
  • This phrase is giving us extra information about what the novel is
  • It's describing the novel - telling us it's a fictionalized account

This is where we have the blank - right after 'sisters.'

Let's look at the choices:

• A: sisters, and
• B: sisters and
• C: sisters,
• D: sisters

So we're deciding whether we need a comma, "and," both, or neither.

To see what works here, let's read what comes next and understand the full structure!

After the blank, the sentence continues:

• 'can serve as a starting point for those wanting to explore...'
  • This is the main verb and action of the sentence
  • The NOVEL can serve as a starting point

Now let's understand the complete structure:

• We start with the main subject: 'Julia Alvarez's 1994 novel'

• Then a descriptive phrase is inserted: 'a fictionalized account of the lives of the Mirabal sisters'
  • This extra information started with a comma after 'Butterflies'
  • It provides additional description of the novel

• Then the main sentence continues: 'can serve as a starting point...'

What do we notice about the structure here?

• The descriptive phrase 'a fictionalized account...' is inserted in the MIDDLE of the main sentence
  • It interrupts between the subject (the novel) and the verb (can serve)

• This type of inserted descriptive information needs to be set off with commas on BOTH sides
  • The first comma (after 'Butterflies') opens the descriptive phrase
  • We need a closing comma (after 'sisters') to end it and return to the main sentence

• Without the closing comma, the phrase runs into the verb, making it seem like 'a fictionalized account...can serve' is one unit - which would incorrectly suggest the account (not the novel) serves as the starting point

So we need Choice C: sisters,

This gives us the closing comma to properly separate the descriptive phrase from the main sentence structure.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Commas with Inserted Descriptive Phrases

When you insert a descriptive noun phrase (called an appositive in grammar terms) into the middle of a sentence to provide additional information about a noun, you must use commas on BOTH sides to set it off from the main sentence:

Pattern:

• [Main noun], [descriptive phrase], [sentence continues]

Example 1:

• Without description: Shakespeare's plays remain popular today
• With inserted description: Shakespeare's plays, timeless works of literature, remain popular today
• First comma = descriptive phrase begins
• Second comma = descriptive phrase ends, main sentence resumes

Example 2:

• Without description: The scientist presented her findings at the conference
• With inserted description: The scientist, a leading expert in genetics, presented her findings at the conference
• Both commas are essential to separate the descriptive information

In our question:

• Main structure: Julia Alvarez's novel... can serve as a starting point
• Inserted description: a fictionalized account of the lives of the Mirabal sisters
• Complete sentence: Julia Alvarez's novel, a fictionalized account of the lives of the Mirabal sisters, can serve as a starting point

The comma after "Butterflies" opens the descriptive phrase, and the comma after "sisters" closes it - both are required to maintain proper sentence structure.