Researchers Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley investigated how ________ In a series of experiments conducted in 2022, they found that...

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

Sentence 1:

• Researchers Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley
  • investigated
    • how ______ [people perceive acts of kindness] + [?/.]

Sentence 2:

• In a series of experiments
  • conducted in 2022,
• they
  • found
    • that people performing small acts of kindness
      • underestimated the positive effect
        • their actions had on others.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

'Researchers Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley investigated how ______'

So we have two researchers who investigated something.

• The word 'how' introduces what they were studying.

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

• A. do people perceive acts of kindness.
• B. do people perceive acts of kindness?
• C. people perceive acts of kindness?
• D. people perceive acts of kindness.

What are we deciding?

• Word order: "do people perceive" vs. "people perceive"
• Punctuation: question mark vs. period

To see what works here, let's think about what this sentence structure is doing!

What do we notice about this structure?

• The word "investigated" is followed by "how"
  • This is telling us what the researchers studied
  • It's not asking US a question directly
  • It's describing what question THEY explored

• This is an embedded question - part of a larger statement
  • We're making a statement about what researchers investigated
  • We're not directly asking the reader a question

When a question is embedded in a statement like this:

• We use standard word order (the way we'd say a regular statement)
  • Not inverted order like in direct questions
• We end with a period (because the overall sentence is a statement)
  • Not a question mark

Think about it this way:

• If we were ASKING the question directly: "How do people perceive acts of kindness?"
  • That would use "do people" and end with "?"

• But when we're stating what someone INVESTIGATED:
  • "They investigated how people perceive acts of kindness."
  • We use normal word order and a period

So we need: Choice D - "people perceive acts of kindness."

The complete sentence reads:

• "Researchers Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley investigated how people perceive acts of kindness."
  • This is a statement telling us what they studied

The second sentence then continues:

• "In a series of experiments conducted in 2022, they found that people performing small acts of kindness underestimated the positive effect their actions had on others."
  • This tells us what they discovered in their research

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Embedded Questions vs. Direct Questions

When a question is embedded within a statement (called an indirect question in grammar terms), it follows different rules than when you're asking a question directly:

Direct Question (asking the reader):

• Structure: Inverted word order (auxiliary verb comes before subject)
• Punctuation: Question mark
• Example: "How do people respond to kindness?"

Embedded Question (part of a statement):

• Structure: Standard word order (subject comes before verb)
• Punctuation: Period (because the overall sentence is a statement)
• Example: "Researchers investigated how people respond to kindness."

Signal words that introduce embedded questions:

• investigated how/why/what/whether
• wondered how/why/what/whether
• asked how/why/what/whether
• know how/why/what/whether

In our question:

• "investigated how" signals an embedded question
• So we need: standard word order ("people perceive") + period
• The result: "Researchers investigated how people perceive acts of kindness."