On July 23, 1854, a clipper ship called the Flying Cloud entered San Francisco ______ left New York Harbor under...

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

• On July 23, 1854,
• a clipper ship called the Flying Cloud
  • entered San Francisco [?]
  • left New York Harbor
    • under the guidance of Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy
      • and his wife,
        • navigator Eleanor Creesy,
    • a mere 89 days and 8 hours earlier,
• the celebrated ship
  • set a record
    • that would stand for 135 years.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

"On July 23, 1854, a clipper ship called the Flying Cloud entered San Francisco..."

So we're learning about a specific moment in history:

• A clipper ship (a type of fast sailing ship)
• Named the Flying Cloud
• Entered San Francisco on July 23, 1854

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

• A: Bay and having
• B: Bay. Having (period, then capital H)
• C: Bay, having
• D: Bay having

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

The passage continues: "left New York Harbor under the guidance of Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy and his wife, navigator Eleanor Creesy, a mere 89 days and 8 hours earlier, the celebrated ship set a record that would stand for 135 years."

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

• "Having left New York Harbor... a mere 89 days and 8 hours earlier"
  • This is explaining the ship's journey
  • It had left New York just 89 days and 8 hours before arriving in San Francisco
  • That's a remarkably fast trip for that era!

• "under the guidance of Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy and his wife, navigator Eleanor Creesy"
  • This tells us who was responsible for this feat
  • Both the captain and his wife (who served as navigator) guided the ship

• "the celebrated ship set a record that would stand for 135 years"
  • This is telling us the main point of the second part
  • The ship SET a record (this is the key action being stated)
  • That record lasted for 135 years!

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have two complete thoughts that could each stand as their own sentence:
  • First thought: "On July 23, 1854, a clipper ship called the Flying Cloud entered San Francisco Bay."
    • This is a complete statement with a subject (ship) and verb (entered)
  • Second thought: "Having left New York Harbor... a mere 89 days and 8 hours earlier, the celebrated ship set a record that would stand for 135 years."
    • This is also a complete statement
    • "Having left..." is a descriptive phrase providing context
    • The core is: "the celebrated ship set a record" (subject + verb + object)

• These are two separate, complete ideas that work best as two sentences:
  • First sentence establishes the arrival
  • Second sentence explains the significance of that arrival

So we need a period after "Bay" to properly separate these two complete thoughts.

The correct answer is Choice B: Bay. Having

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Recognizing When Two Complete Thoughts Need Separate Sentences

When you have two complete thoughts (called independent clauses in grammar terms) that each have their own subject and verb, you need to separate them properly. The clearest way is often to use a period and create two sentences:

Pattern:

• First complete thought: The experiment succeeded.
• Second complete thought: Having run for six months without issues, the project earned widespread acclaim.

Even though the second sentence begins with a descriptive phrase ("Having run for six months without issues"), it still contains a complete thought with its own subject ("the project") and main verb ("earned").

Why this applies to our question:

• First sentence: "On July 23, 1854, a clipper ship called the Flying Cloud entered San Francisco Bay."
  • Subject: a clipper ship called the Flying Cloud
  • Verb: entered
  • Complete thought

• Second sentence: "Having left New York Harbor under the guidance of Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy and his wife, navigator Eleanor Creesy, a mere 89 days and 8 hours earlier, the celebrated ship set a record that would stand for 135 years."
  • Introductory descriptive phrase: "Having left New York Harbor... 89 days and 8 hours earlier"
  • Subject: the celebrated ship
  • Verb: set
  • Complete thought

Both sentences can stand independently, so they need proper separation with a period.