Technology executives frequently attend innovation conferences to expand their professional networks and identify emerging market trends. These events...

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

• Technology executives frequently attend innovation conferences
  • to expand their professional networks
  • and identify emerging market trends.

• These events provide valuable opportunities for strategic partnerships [?] many executives find the extensive time commitment difficult to justify
  • given their operational responsibilities.

• [?] = partnerships, though OR partnerships, though, OR partnerships; though OR partnerships; though,

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence gives us context:

• Technology executives attend innovation conferences
  • Why? To expand networks and identify trends

Now the second sentence:

• "These events provide valuable opportunities for strategic partnerships..."

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

• We're deciding between comma vs. semicolon after "partnerships"
• And whether there's a comma after "though"

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

• "...many executives find the extensive time commitment difficult to justify given their operational responsibilities."

So the complete thought is:

• First part: These conferences provide great opportunities for partnerships (positive aspect)
• Second part: BUT many executives struggle to justify the time investment (contrasting/negative aspect)
• "Though" signals this contrast

Now, what do we notice about the structure here?

Let's look at what comes before "though":

• "These events provide valuable opportunities for strategic partnerships"
  • Subject: "These events"
  • Verb: "provide"
  • This is a complete thought

And what comes after "though":

• "Though many executives find the extensive time commitment difficult to justify..."
  • "Though" introduces this part
  • "many executives find..." gives us the contrasting information
  • When "though" starts this part, it makes this a dependent clause - a thought that adds contrast but relies on the first part for complete meaning

So we have:

• Complete thought + dependent clause that provides contrasting information

When connecting a complete thought to a dependent clause introduced by "though," we use a comma:

• Comma before "though" (to separate the two parts)
• NO comma after "though" (it introduces the clause directly)

The correct answer is Choice B: partnerships, though

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Connecting Complete Thoughts with Dependent Clauses Using "Though"

When you have a complete thought followed by a dependent clause introduced by a subordinating conjunction like "though," "although," "because," or "while," use a comma to connect them - not a semicolon. No comma comes after the subordinating conjunction.

Pattern:

• Complete thought, though dependent clause.
• Complete thought, because dependent clause.
• Complete thought, while dependent clause.

Example 1:

• "The restaurant received excellent reviews, though the prices were quite high."
  • First part: "The restaurant received excellent reviews" (complete thought)
  • Second part: "though the prices were quite high" (dependent clause showing contrast)
  • Connected with: comma before "though," no comma after

Example 2:

• "She decided to accept the position, although the salary was lower than expected."
  • First part: complete thought
  • Second part: dependent clause with contrast
  • Connected with: comma

In our question:

• "These events provide valuable opportunities for strategic partnerships, though many executives find the extensive time commitment difficult to justify given their operational responsibilities."
  • First part: complete thought about the opportunities
  • Second part: dependent clause (introduced by "though") providing contrasting information
  • Correctly connected with: comma before "though," no comma after

Important contrast - when to use a semicolon instead:

Semicolons connect two complete thoughts that could each stand alone as separate sentences (these are called independent clauses in grammar terms). If the second part is made dependent by a word like "though," you cannot use a semicolon.