Maya Angelou wrote her acclaimed autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in ______ drawing from her experiences growing...

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

• Maya Angelou wrote her acclaimed autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
  • in 1969[?]
    • drawing from her experiences growing up in the segregated South
      • and
    • her journey toward finding her voice as a writer.

Understanding the Meaning

The sentence starts by telling us about a specific accomplishment:

• Maya Angelou wrote her acclaimed autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
  • This happened in 1969

This is where we have the blank - right after "1969."

Let's look at the choices:

• Choice A: 1969 and
• Choice B: 1969, and
• Choice C: 1969,
• Choice D: 1969

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

The sentence continues: "drawing from her experiences growing up in the segregated South and her journey toward finding her voice as a writer."

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

• "Drawing from her experiences..."
  • This isn't a new complete statement
  • It's giving us extra information about HOW she wrote the book
  • It's describing what she pulled from when writing - her experiences growing up and her journey

• The phrase starting with "drawing" is adding descriptive detail
  • It's connected to the main statement (Maya Angelou wrote...)
  • But it's not a separate complete thought

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have a complete main statement: "Maya Angelou wrote her acclaimed autobiography in 1969"
  • This could stand alone as a sentence

• Followed by extra descriptive information: "drawing from her experiences..."
  • This gives us additional context
  • It tells us what informed her writing
  • It can't stand alone - it needs the main statement

• When you have a complete statement followed by a descriptive phrase that adds extra information, you need a comma to set off that extra information

Do we need "and"?

• No - "and" connects two equal elements (like two complete thoughts)
• Here we have a main statement plus descriptive detail, not two equal clauses
• The "drawing" phrase is supplementary, not a second main action

So we need Choice C: just a comma to set off the descriptive phrase.

Grammar Concept Applied

Using Commas with Descriptive Phrases that Add Extra Information

When a descriptive phrase (called a participial phrase in grammar terms - one that starts with an -ing verb form) follows a complete main statement and adds extra information about it, you need to set it off with a comma:

Pattern:

• Complete main statement, descriptive phrase adding extra information.

Examples:

• Complete statement: The scientist published her findings in 2020
• With descriptive phrase: The scientist published her findings in 2020, drawing on fifteen years of research.
• "drawing on fifteen years of research" = descriptive phrase telling us MORE about how she did this
• The comma sets off this extra information

• Complete statement: The team celebrated their victory
• With descriptive phrase: The team celebrated their victory, gathering at the stadium to thank their fans.
• "gathering at the stadium..." = descriptive phrase adding detail about the celebration
• Not a separate complete thought - it's extra information

In our question:

• Main statement: "Maya Angelou wrote her acclaimed autobiography in 1969"
• Descriptive phrase: "drawing from her experiences growing up in the segregated South and her journey toward finding her voice as a writer"
• The comma after "1969" properly sets off this descriptive information

Important note: Don't use "and" in this structure. "And" connects equal elements (two complete thoughts, two items in a list), but here you have a main statement plus supplementary description, not two equal clauses.