One of the few African American global explorers during the turn of the 20th century, ______

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

• One of the few African American global explorers
• during the turn of the 20th century,
• (?) [completion needed]

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

'One of the few African American global explorers during the turn of the 20th century,'

This opening phrase is describing someone –

• it's painting a picture of a person who was one of the few African American explorers traveling the world around 1900.

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank –

• right after this descriptive phrase and the comma.

Let's look at our choices to see what varies:

• Choice A puts "Matthew Henson" (a person) right after the comma
• Choice B puts "1891 and 1909" (years) right after the comma
• Choice C puts "Greenland" (a place) right after the comma
• Choice D puts "several treks" (journeys) right after the comma

What do we notice about the structure here?

• The opening phrase describes a PERSON –
  • specifically, an African American explorer
• When you start a sentence with a descriptive phrase like this (followed by a comma), the very next word after that comma must be the thing being described
• Since the phrase describes a person (an explorer), a person's name must come right after the comma
• If we put anything else there – years, places, or treks –
  • we'd be saying that those things are the "African American global explorer," which makes no sense!

So we need Choice A: "Matthew Henson" must come immediately after the comma because he's the person being described by the opening phrase.

The complete sentence tells us:

• Matthew Henson was one of the few African American global explorers during the turn of the 20th century
• He made several treks across Greenland between 1891 and 1909

Grammar Concept Applied

Placing Descriptive Phrases: What Comes After the Comma Matters

When you begin a sentence with a descriptive phrase followed by a comma, the word or phrase that comes immediately after that comma MUST be what you're describing. If it's not, the description gets attached to the wrong thing (called a misplaced modifier in grammar terms), creating confusion or even absurdity.

The Pattern:

• [Descriptive phrase], [thing being described] + rest of sentence

Examples:

• Correct: "A talented musician, Sarah performs at concerts worldwide."
  • "A talented musician" describes Sarah (a person)
  • Sarah comes right after the comma
• Incorrect: "A talented musician, concerts worldwide feature Sarah's performances."
  • "A talented musician" describes Sarah, not concerts
  • But "concerts" comes right after the comma
  • This incorrectly suggests concerts are the talented musician

In our question:

• The phrase "One of the few African American global explorers during the turn of the 20th century" describes a person
• Therefore, the person's name (Matthew Henson) must come immediately after the comma
• Choices B, C, and D all put something else (years, place, or treks) in that position, creating misplaced modifiers