Marine biologists studying hydrothermal vents will ______ unusual species that thrive in extreme conditions near these underwater volcanic features, i...

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 hydrothermal vents
• will document (?) the
• unusual species
  • that thrive in extreme conditions
  • near these underwater volcanic features,
  • including organisms
    • that survive without sunlight
    • through chemosynthesis.

Understanding the Meaning

The sentence starts by introducing us to a specific group of scientists:

• 'Marine biologists studying hydrothermal vents'
  • These are scientists who study ocean life, specifically focusing on hydrothermal vents (those underwater volcanic features mentioned later)

Then we learn what these scientists will do:

• 'will ______ unusual species'

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

• A. document, the → puts a comma after "document"
• B. document the → no punctuation
• C. document. The → ends the sentence with a period
• D. document: the → uses a colon

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

• 'unusual species that thrive in extreme conditions near these underwater volcanic features'
  • These are unusual species (not normal ones)
  • They thrive (live successfully) in extreme conditions
  • These extreme conditions are near hydrothermal vents

• 'including organisms that survive without sunlight through chemosynthesis'
  • This gives us a specific example of these unusual species
  • Some organisms can survive without sunlight
  • They use chemosynthesis (a chemical process) instead of photosynthesis

So the complete meaning is:

• Marine biologists will document (record/observe) unusual species that live near hydrothermal vents in extreme conditions

What do we notice about the structure here?

• "will document" is the verb - the action these biologists will take
  • This verb needs an object - they need to document SOMETHING

• "the unusual species..." is that object - it's what they will document

• A verb and its object should flow directly together
  • No punctuation should interrupt them
  • Think of it like "I eat pizza" not "I eat, pizza" or "I eat. Pizza"

So we need Choice B: document the - no punctuation between the verb and what it's acting on.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Keeping Verbs and Their Objects Together

When a verb needs an object to complete its meaning (what or whom the action is done to), that object should follow directly without any punctuation separating them. This is called a direct object in grammar terms.

The Pattern:

• Subject + Verb + Object (no punctuation between verb and object)

Examples:

✓ Correct: The researchers analyzed the data carefully.

• "analyzed" = verb
• "the data" = object (what they analyzed)
• No punctuation between them

✗ Incorrect: The researchers analyzed, the data carefully.

• The comma incorrectly separates the verb from its object

✓ Correct: Scientists discovered unusual organisms near the vents.

• "discovered" = verb
• "unusual organisms" = object
• Direct connection maintained

In this question:

• "will document" = verb phrase (the action)
• "the unusual species..." = direct object (what will be documented)
• They must connect directly: "will document the unusual species"
• No comma, period, or colon should interrupt this fundamental relationship