Linguists studying ancient manuscripts made a significant discovery about early trade routes. In the initial analysis, scrolls from the coastal...

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

• Linguists studying ancient manuscripts
  • made a significant discovery about early trade routes.
• In the initial analysis,
  • scrolls from the coastal region
    • contained only fifteen references to inland cities [?]
• [?] following translation,
  • scrolls from the same region
    • contained over sixty references to inland cities,
      • revealing extensive commercial networks.

Understanding the Meaning

The passage starts with context:

• Linguists studying ancient manuscripts made a significant discovery about early trade routes.
  • Researchers found something important while studying old documents.

Now the passage tells us about their findings:

• 'In the initial analysis, scrolls from the coastal region contained only fifteen references to inland cities'
  • In their first look at these scrolls, they found only 15 mentions of inland cities.

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

• cities, following (comma before, nothing after)
• cities. Following (period and capital F)
• cities following (no punctuation)
• cities following, (comma after following)

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

• 'following translation, scrolls from the same region contained over sixty references to inland cities, revealing extensive commercial networks'

Now let's really understand what this is telling us:

• 'Following translation'
  • means 'after translation' - after they translated the scrolls more carefully or completely
• 'scrolls from the same region contained over sixty references to inland cities'
  • The same scrolls now showed 60+ references instead of just 15!
• 'revealing extensive commercial networks'
  • This big increase in references shows there were actually extensive trade networks

So the complete picture is:

• First look: only 15 references to inland cities
• After proper translation: over 60 references to inland cities
• This contrast shows how translation revealed extensive commercial networks that weren't visible in the initial analysis

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have TWO separate complete statements:
  • 'In the initial analysis, scrolls from the coastal region contained only fifteen references to inland cities.'
  • 'Following translation, scrolls from the same region contained over sixty references to inland cities...'
• Each statement has:
  • An introductory phrase ('In the initial analysis' / 'Following translation')
  • A subject ('scrolls')
  • A verb ('contained')
  • A complete thought
• Both parts can stand alone as complete sentences.
• These are two independent, complete thoughts presenting contrasting findings.

When you have two complete thoughts like this, you need proper separation - you can't just run them together with a comma or no punctuation.

So we need: B. cities. Following

This creates two properly separated sentences:

• First sentence ends with a period after 'cities'
• Second sentence starts with capital 'Following'
• 'Following translation' acts as an introductory phrase (followed by its comma) at the start of the new sentence

The correct answer is B

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Separating Complete Thoughts (Independent Clauses)

When you have two complete thoughts that could each stand alone as sentences (called independent clauses in grammar terms), you must separate them properly. You cannot connect them with just a comma or run them together with no punctuation.

Correct ways to separate two complete thoughts:

1. Period (creating two sentences):
   • Complete thought #1: "The initial analysis found fifteen references to inland cities."
   • Complete thought #2: "Following translation, researchers found over sixty references."
   • Correct: "...fifteen references to inland cities. Following translation, researchers found..."
2. Semicolon:
   • "The initial analysis found fifteen references; following translation, they found sixty."
3. Comma + coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet):
   • "The initial analysis found fifteen references, but following translation, they found sixty."

Incorrect ways (create run-ons or comma splices):

• Comma alone: "The initial analysis found fifteen references, following translation they found sixty."
• No punctuation: "The initial analysis found fifteen references following translation they found sixty."

In this question:

• "In the initial analysis, scrolls...contained only fifteen references to inland cities" = Complete thought #1
• "Following translation, scrolls...contained over sixty references to inland cities" = Complete thought #2
• These need a period between them: "cities. Following"