The California condor recovery program has been remarkably successful since its inception in 1987. Biologists initially captured all remaining wild...

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: The California condor recovery program has been remarkably successful since its inception in 1987.

• Sentence 2: Biologists initially captured all remaining wild condors—just 27 birds—to establish a captive breeding program [?] that ambitious effort paid off dramatically, with the population now exceeding 500 individuals, including over 300 flying free in California, Arizona, and Utah.

Where [?] represents: ", that" / ". That" / " that" / " and that"

Understanding the Meaning

First sentence is straightforward:

• The California condor recovery program has been remarkably successful since 1987.

Now the second sentence begins:

• Biologists initially captured all remaining wild condors—just 27 birds—to establish a captive breeding program

This tells us:

• Biologists captured all the remaining condors (only 27 birds left!)
• Their purpose was to establish a captive breeding program

This is where we have the blank.

Let's look at the choices:

• A: program, that
• B: program. That
• C: program that
• D: program and that

The choices are asking us: how should we connect to what comes next?

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

That ambitious effort paid off dramatically, with the population now exceeding 500 individuals, including over 300 flying free in California, Arizona, and Utah.

Now let's understand what this is telling us:

• That ambitious effort
  • refers back to the breeding program they established
  • 'that' is pointing back to the effort they just described
• Paid off dramatically
  • means it worked really well
  • 'paid off' is the main action here
• With the population now exceeding 500 individuals
  • gives us the impressive result - from 27 birds to over 500!
• Including over 300 flying free
  • tells us many are now living in the wild again

So the complete picture is:

• First part: Biologists captured 27 condors to establish a breeding program
• Second part: That effort was hugely successful, growing the population to 500+

What do we notice about the structure here?

Before the blank:

• Biologists initially captured all remaining wild condors to establish a captive breeding program
  • This is a complete thought that can stand alone as a sentence
  • Has a subject (Biologists), verb (captured), and complete meaning

After the blank:

• That ambitious effort paid off dramatically
  • This is also a complete thought that can stand alone as a sentence
  • Has its own subject (That ambitious effort) and verb (paid off)
  • It's telling us a new, complete idea about the result

So we have two complete sentences - two independent thoughts that can each stand on their own.

When you have two complete sentences, you can't just join them with a comma (that would be a comma splice error). You need to separate them properly.

The correct answer is B: program. That

This uses a period to create two separate sentences, which is the clearest and most grammatically correct way to present these two complete thoughts.

Grammar Concept Applied

Separating Complete Sentences (Independent Clauses)

When you have two complete thoughts that can each stand alone as sentences (called independent clauses in grammar terms), you must separate them properly. You CANNOT join them with just a comma - this creates an error called a comma splice.

Your options for handling two independent clauses:

1. Use a period to create two separate sentences:
   • First complete thought: The experiment succeeded.
   • Second complete thought: The results surprised everyone.
   • Combined: "The experiment succeeded. The results surprised everyone."
2. Use a semicolon (for closely related thoughts):
   • "The experiment succeeded; the results surprised everyone."
3. Use comma + coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so):
   • "The experiment succeeded, and the results surprised everyone."
4. Make one clause dependent:
   • "When the experiment succeeded, the results surprised everyone."

In this question:

• Before blank: "Biologists initially captured all remaining wild condors to establish a captive breeding program" = complete sentence
• After blank: "That ambitious effort paid off dramatically" = complete sentence
• Solution: Use a period (Choice B) to properly separate these two independent thoughts

The two ideas are related but complete enough that separating them into two sentences is the clearest choice.