Nigerian American artist Toyin Ojih Odutola uses black-ink pens to create highly detailed drawings of human figures. Her portrait of...

Sentence Structure

• Nigerian American artist Toyin Ojih Odutola
  • uses black-ink pens
    • to create highly detailed drawings
      • of human figures.
• Her portrait
  • of novelist Zadie Smith (?)
  • is displayed in the National Portrait Gallery
    • in London.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start by reading the first sentence:

• 'Nigerian American artist Toyin Ojih Odutola uses black-ink pens to create highly detailed drawings of human figures.'
  • This introduces us to the artist and tells us about her technique - she uses black-ink pens to create detailed drawings.

Now the second sentence begins:

• 'Her portrait of novelist Zadie Smith'
  • 'Her' refers back to Toyin Ojih Odutola
  • 'portrait' is what we're talking about - a specific drawing
  • 'of novelist Zadie Smith' tells us which portrait - it's a portrait of a person who is a novelist named Zadie Smith

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

Let's look at the choices:

• A adds a colon (:)
• B adds a dash (—)
• C adds nothing
• D adds a comma (,)

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

• 'is displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in London.'
  • This tells us where the portrait is shown.

So the complete sentence is saying:

• Her portrait of novelist Zadie Smith is displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

What do we notice about the structure here?

• 'Her portrait of novelist Zadie Smith' is the subject of the sentence - it's the thing the sentence is about.
  • Within this, 'of novelist Zadie Smith' is a phrase that describes which portrait we're talking about.
  • The phrase 'novelist Zadie Smith' is a simple noun phrase where 'novelist' describes who Zadie Smith is.
• 'is displayed' is the verb - what's happening to this portrait.
• The subject needs to flow directly into the verb with no interruption.

Think about similar phrases:

• President Lincoln
• Dr. Martinez
• novelist Jane Austen

In all these cases, the descriptor (President, Dr., novelist) goes directly with the name - no punctuation between them or after them unless the sentence structure requires it.

So we need: no punctuation after Smith.

The correct answer is C - just "Smith" with nothing following it, allowing the subject to flow naturally into the verb "is displayed."

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

No Punctuation Between Descriptors and Names in Noun Phrases

When you have a descriptor or title followed directly by a name, they form a single noun phrase that doesn't need punctuation between the parts:

Pattern: Descriptor + Name = Single Noun Phrase (No Punctuation)

Examples:

• "President Lincoln delivered the speech"
  • "President" (descriptor) + "Lincoln" (name) = one noun phrase
• "The company hired Dr. Martinez for the position"
  • "Dr." (title) + "Martinez" (name) = one noun phrase
• "I'm reading a book by novelist Toni Morrison"
  • "novelist" (descriptor) + "Toni Morrison" (name) = one noun phrase

In this question:

• "Her portrait of novelist Zadie Smith is displayed..."
  • "novelist" (descriptor) + "Zadie Smith" (name) = one noun phrase
  • This noun phrase is part of the larger subject of the sentence
  • No punctuation should interrupt this phrase or separate it from the verb

The key principle: Descriptors and names work together as a unit. Don't add punctuation between them or after them unless the sentence structure requires it for a different reason (like setting off additional modifying information).