The ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk flourished between 4000 and 3000 BCE as a center of early civilization (i.e., one...

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

• The ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk
  • flourished
    • between 4000 and 3000 BCE
    • as a center of early civilization
      • (i.e., one of humanity's first major urban settlements)[?]
• [?]by excavating the site in the early twentieth century,
  • archaeologists
    • uncovered evidence
      • of the world's earliest known system of writing.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

"The ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk flourished between 4000 and 3000 BCE as a center of early civilization"

So we're learning that:

• Uruk was an ancient Mesopotamian city
• It flourished (thrived, was successful) between 4000 and 3000 BCE
• It was a center of early civilization

Then we get a parenthetical note:

• "(i.e., one of humanity's first major urban settlements)"
  • This is clarifying what "center of early civilization" means
  • It was one of the first major urban settlements in human history

Now we've reached the blank. Let's look at what the choices are showing us:

• A. settlements), by
• B. settlements) by
• C. settlements). By
• D. settlements) and by

The choices are asking us to decide:

• What punctuation (if any) comes after the closing parenthesis
• Whether "by" is lowercase or capitalized

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

"by excavating the site in the early twentieth century, archaeologists uncovered evidence of the world's earliest known system of writing"

Let's break this down:

• "By excavating the site in the early twentieth century"
  • This tells us HOW and WHEN something was discovered
  • This is an introductory phrase setting up the main action
• "archaeologists uncovered evidence of the world's earliest known system of writing"
  • This is the main point: archaeologists made a discovery
  • They found evidence of the earliest known writing system

Now, what do we notice about the structure here?

The first part:

• "The ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk flourished... as a center of early civilization (i.e., one of humanity's first major urban settlements)"
  • This has a subject: "The ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk"
  • This has a verb: "flourished"
  • This expresses a complete thought about when Uruk thrived
  • This is a complete sentence

The second part:

• "By excavating the site in the early twentieth century, archaeologists uncovered evidence..."
  • This has a subject: "archaeologists"
  • This has a verb: "uncovered"
  • This expresses a complete thought about what archaeologists discovered
  • This is also a complete sentence

So we have two complete sentences here:

• One about Uruk flourishing in ancient times
• One about archaeologists discovering something in the twentieth century
• These are separate, distinct ideas

When we have two complete sentences expressing separate thoughts, we need to properly separate them with a period, and the second sentence needs to start with a capital letter.

So the correct answer is: C. settlements). By

The period ends the first complete sentence, and "By" is capitalized to start the new sentence.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Separating Complete Sentences

When you have two complete sentences (also called independent clauses in grammar terms) - meaning each has its own subject and verb and expresses a complete thought - you must separate them properly. You have three main options:

Option 1: Use a period (and capitalize the next sentence)

• Sentence 1: The experiment yielded surprising results.
• Sentence 2: The team published their findings immediately.

Option 2: Use a semicolon

• The experiment yielded surprising results; the team published their findings immediately.

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

• The experiment yielded surprising results, so the team published their findings immediately.

What you CANNOT do:

• Use just a comma: "The experiment yielded surprising results, the team published..." (comma splice)
• Use no punctuation: "The experiment yielded surprising results the team published..." (run-on sentence)

In our question:

• First complete sentence: "The ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk flourished... (i.e., one of humanity's first major urban settlements)"
• Second complete sentence: "By excavating the site in the early twentieth century, archaeologists uncovered evidence..."
• Since these express distinct ideas (one about ancient Uruk, one about twentieth-century archaeologists), a period is the most natural choice
• Therefore: "settlements). By"