Marine biologists studying coral reef degradation have identified patterns _____ bleaching, disease transmission, and colony collapse that correspond ...

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

• Marine biologists studying coral reef degradation
  • have identified patterns of[?]
    • bleaching,
    • disease transmission,
    • and colony collapse
      • that correspond with rising ocean temperatures
        • and increasing water acidity.

Understanding the Meaning

This sentence is about marine biologists who are studying coral reef degradation – why coral reefs are getting damaged and dying.

What have these scientists found?

• They 'have identified patterns' –
  • they've noticed certain patterns or trends.

Now we get to the blank:

• 'patterns of[?] bleaching, disease transmission, and colony collapse'

This is where we need to fill in the blank. Let's look at our choices:

• of:
• of
• of,
• of—

So we're deciding whether to put any punctuation after the word "of."

To see what works here, let's read and understand what comes after "of":

• 'bleaching, disease transmission, and colony collapse'
  • These are three things – a list of the patterns the scientists identified.

Then the sentence continues:

• 'that correspond with rising ocean temperatures and increasing water acidity'
  • This tells us these patterns match up with warmer oceans and more acidic water.

So the complete picture is:

• Scientists studying coral reefs have noticed patterns of three specific problems (bleaching, disease transmission, and colony collapse), and these patterns line up with rising temperatures and acidity in the ocean.

What do we notice about the structure here?

• 'patterns of' + the list of three things = a prepositional phrase
  • "of" is a preposition that's introducing what kind of patterns we're talking about
  • The list (bleaching, disease transmission, and colony collapse) is the object of that preposition

• A preposition and its object work together as a unit – they shouldn't be separated
  • Think of phrases like "group of students" or "list of ingredients"
  • We don't put punctuation between "of" and what comes after it

So we need no punctuation after "of" – the correct answer is Choice B: of

The preposition flows directly into its object without any interruption.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Keeping Prepositional Phrases Intact

When a preposition (like "of," "in," "with," "by," "for," etc.) introduces its object, no punctuation should come between them. The preposition and its object form a prepositional phrase (called this in grammar terms) that functions as a single unit.

The pattern:

• Noun + preposition + object = no punctuation between preposition and object

Examples:

Correct structure:

• "a collection of poems"
  • "of" connects directly to "poems"

• "a discussion about climate change, economic policy, and education reform"
  • "about" connects directly to the list that follows

Incorrect – don't do this:

• "a collection of: poems"
• "a collection of, poems"
• "a discussion about: climate change..."

In our question:

• "patterns of bleaching, disease transmission, and colony collapse"
• "of" introduces its object (a list of three things)
• No punctuation interrupts this connection
• The prepositional phrase remains intact as a unit

The key principle: Let prepositions flow directly into what they're introducing, whether that's a single word, a phrase, or even a list.