Paintings by the renowned twentieth-century US _____ were featured in Artist to Artist, an exhibition at the Smithsonian Art Museum...

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

• Paintings by the renowned twentieth-century US artists [?]
• were featured in Artist to Artist,
  • an exhibition at the Smithsonian Art Museum
    • that paired the works of artists
      • whose career trajectories intersected in meaningful ways.

Understanding the Meaning

The sentence starts by telling us what was featured in something:

• 'Paintings by the renowned twentieth-century US...'

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank. The sentence is identifying whose paintings these are - paintings by which artists?

Let's look at our choices:

• All choices include 'artists Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock'
• What varies is the punctuation around these names:
  • A: colon before, comma after
  • B: no punctuation
  • C: comma before 'and,' comma after
  • D: comma before the names

The key question is: what's the relationship between 'artists' and these two names?

• These names are telling us WHICH artists we're talking about
• They're not giving us extra, optional information about artists in general
• They're specifying the exact two artists whose paintings were featured

Think of it like this:

• 'My friend Sarah' - Sarah tells us which friend (essential information, no commas)
• 'My only friend, Sarah' - Sarah adds a detail about a friend already identified (additional information, use commas)

Here, 'Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock' are essential - they identify which specific artists. Without them, the sentence would mean something different (paintings by US artists in general, not these two particular ones).

What do we notice about the structure here?

• When names or identifiers are ESSENTIAL to specify what we're talking about, they integrate directly with the noun
• No punctuation separates them
• The names flow right after 'artists' because they're answering the question 'which artists?'

So we need: 'artists Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock' with no punctuation.

The correct answer is B.

Now let's read the rest to see the complete picture:

• 'were featured in Artist to Artist'
  • This is the main action - these paintings were featured/displayed
• 'an exhibition at the Smithsonian Art Museum'
  • This tells us what 'Artist to Artist' was - an exhibition at this museum
• 'that paired the works of artists whose career trajectories intersected in meaningful ways'
  • This describes the nature of the exhibition - it paired artists whose careers connected in important ways
  • Makes sense! Benton was actually Pollock's teacher, so their careers definitely intersected

The complete meaning: Paintings by these two specific twentieth-century US artists (Benton and Pollock) were featured in an exhibition that paired artists whose careers connected in meaningful ways.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Commas with Essential vs. Additional Information

When a noun is followed by identifying information, whether to use commas depends on whether that information is essential or additional:

Essential Information (Restrictive) - NO COMMAS:

• The information specifies WHICH thing/person you're talking about
• It cannot be removed without changing the core meaning
• It integrates directly with the noun

Examples:

• 'The artist Pablo Picasso revolutionized modern art'
  • 'Pablo Picasso' specifies which artist (essential)
  • No commas separate the name from 'artist'
• 'Students who study regularly perform better'
  • 'who study regularly' specifies which students (not all students)
  • No commas around this identifying phrase

Additional Information (Non-restrictive) - USE COMMAS:

• The information adds extra details about something already identified
• It could be removed without changing the core meaning
• It's set off with commas (or dashes/parentheses)

Examples:

• 'My grandmother, Maria, taught me to cook'
  • I have one grandmother; 'Maria' adds her name but doesn't identify which one
  • Commas set off the additional information
• 'The Mona Lisa, which hangs in the Louvre, is priceless'
  • We already know which painting; the location is extra information
  • Commas set off this additional detail

In this question:

• 'US artists Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock'
• The names are essential - they specify WHICH artists
• Therefore: no commas (Choice B is correct)

This grammatical relationship (called restrictive vs. non-restrictive modification in grammar terms) is crucial for comma usage in complex sentences!