The composer initially planned to complete the symphony by December. However, creative challenges meant that she finished the work _____...

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 composer initially planned
  • to complete the symphony
    • by December.

• However, creative challenges meant
  • that she finished the work [later (?)] March
    • while refining the final movements.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

• 'The composer initially planned to complete the symphony by December.'
  • The original plan was to finish by December.

• 'However, creative challenges meant'
  • Things didn't go as planned
  • The word "however" signals a change from the original plan
  • "Meant" tells us we're about to learn what actually happened

Now we reach the blank: 'that she finished the work _____ March'

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

• Choice A: later, which in
• Choice B: later, in
• Choice C: later in
• Choice D: later. In

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

The sentence continues: 'while refining the final movements.'

So the complete picture is:

• She planned to finish by December
• BUT she actually finished the work [something] March
• This happened while she was refining the final movements

Now, what phrase do we need to express when she finished?

We need to say she finished "later in March":

• "Later" tells us it happened after the planned December deadline
• "In March" specifies which month
• Together, they form one unified time phrase: "later in March"

What do we notice about this structure?

"Later in March" is a single, cohesive time expression:

• These words work together as one unit to tell us WHEN
• "Later" (than December) combines with "in March" to give us the complete timing
• There's no reason to break this phrase up with any punctuation
• They flow together naturally

So we need Choice C: "later in" - no punctuation interrupting the natural flow of this time phrase.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Punctuation Within Unified Phrases

When words work together as a single unit to express one idea, we don't use punctuation to separate them. This is especially important with time phrases:

Pattern: Unified time expression = No internal punctuation

Example 1:

• INCORRECT: "She arrived later, in the evening"
• CORRECT: "She arrived later in the evening"
• "Later in the evening" is one cohesive time phrase

Example 2:

• INCORRECT: "The meeting is scheduled early, next week"
• CORRECT: "The meeting is scheduled early next week"
• "Early next week" works as a single time expression

Example 3:

• INCORRECT: "They finished much, sooner than expected"
• CORRECT: "They finished much sooner than expected"
• "Much sooner" is a unified expression

In our question:

• "Later in March" = one unified time phrase
• No comma should interrupt the natural flow from "later" to "in March"
• These words work together to tell us when she finished the work

Additional note: Always check that periods create complete sentences on both sides. A period after "later" would leave us with "In March while refining the final movements" - which has no subject or main verb and cannot stand alone.