Renaissance painters developed tempera by mixing pigment with egg yolk, creating a fast-drying medium ideal for detailed ______ painters of...

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

• Renaissance painters
  • developed tempera
    • by mixing pigment with egg yolk,
    • creating a fast-drying medium
      • ideal for detailed work [?]

• With painters of the same era,
• oil-based paints
  • allowed for slower drying times
  • and enabled the blending techniques
    • that became central to their artistic style.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading and understanding what this passage is telling us:

'Renaissance painters developed tempera by mixing pigment with egg yolk'

• This tells us about a painting technique
  • Renaissance painters created a type of paint called tempera
  • They made it by mixing pigment (color) with egg yolk

'creating a fast-drying medium ideal for detailed work'

• This describes what made tempera special
  • It dried quickly
  • This quick drying made it great for detailed work

This is where we have the blank: 'detailed work ___'

Let's look at the choices:

• A: work, with
• B: work and with
• C: work. With
• D: work with

So we're deciding on punctuation - what goes between "work" and "with"?

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

'With painters of the same era, oil-based paints allowed for slower drying times and enabled the blending techniques that became central to their artistic style.'

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

• 'With painters of the same era'
  • This means other painters who lived at the same time as the Renaissance painters

• 'oil-based paints allowed for slower drying times'
  • These painters used a different type of paint - oil-based
  • This paint dried more slowly (contrasting with the fast-drying tempera)

• 'and enabled the blending techniques that became central to their artistic style'
  • The slow drying time let them blend colors
  • This blending became a key part of how they painted

So the complete picture is:

• Renaissance painters used fast-drying tempera for detailed work
• Other painters of that era used slow-drying oil-based paints for blending

Now, what do we notice about the structure here?

• The first part - about Renaissance painters and tempera - is a complete thought that could stand alone as its own sentence
  • It has a subject (Renaissance painters)
  • It has a verb (developed)
  • It expresses a complete idea

• The second part - about oil-based paints - is ALSO a complete thought that could stand alone
  • It has a subject (oil-based paints)
  • It has verbs (allowed and enabled)
  • It expresses a complete idea
  • Even though it starts with "With painters of the same era," that's just extra information at the beginning - the core sentence is "oil-based paints allowed for slower drying times and enabled..."

When you have two complete sentences - two complete thoughts that could each stand alone - you need to separate them properly. The cleanest way to do this is with a period, making them two distinct sentences.

So we need: C. work. With

This gives us: "...ideal for detailed work. With painters of the same era, oil-based paints..."

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Separating Two Complete Sentences

When you have two complete thoughts (called independent clauses in grammar terms) - each with its own subject and verb that could stand alone as a sentence - you must separate them properly. You have several options:

Option 1: Use a period (most common and clearest)

• Complete sentence. Complete sentence.
• Example: "The researchers discovered a new species. They published their findings immediately."

Option 2: Use a semicolon

• Complete sentence; complete sentence.
• Example: "The researchers discovered a new species; they published their findings immediately."

Option 3: Use a comma + coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so)

• Complete sentence, and complete sentence.
• Example: "The researchers discovered a new species, and they published their findings immediately."

What you CANNOT do:

• Complete sentence, complete sentence. (comma splice)
• Complete sentence complete sentence. (run-on)

In our question:

• First complete sentence: "Renaissance painters developed tempera by mixing pigment with egg yolk, creating a fast-drying medium ideal for detailed work."
• Second complete sentence: "With painters of the same era, oil-based paints allowed for slower drying times and enabled the blending techniques that became central to their artistic style."
• Solution: Use a period to separate them clearly

Note: The phrase "With painters of the same era" at the start of the second sentence might make it seem like it's not complete, but it is! The core sentence is "oil-based paints allowed for slower drying times..." - that introductory phrase is just additional information (called an introductory prepositional phrase) that modifies the main sentence.