The conservation organization deployed BioScan—an integrated wildlife monitoring ______ motion-activated cameras and audio sensors throughout the pres...

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 conservation organization deployed BioScan
• —an integrated wildlife monitoring network [?]
• motion-activated cameras and audio sensors throughout the preserve,
• the system tracks migration patterns
• while minimizing human interference with animal behavior.

Where [?] is:

• A: —combining
• B: . Combining
• C: , combining
• D: combining

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

The conservation organization deployed BioScan
—an integrated wildlife monitoring network

So we learn that:

• An organization deployed something called BioScan
• The dash tells us more about what BioScan is: it's "an integrated wildlife monitoring network"

Now we reach the blank. Let's look at our choices:

• They differ in what punctuation comes after "network"
  • A dash (—)
  • A period (.)
  • A comma (,)
  • Nothing
• They also differ in capitalization: "combining" vs "Combining"

To see what works here, let's read the rest and understand what it's telling us!

The text continues: "combining motion-activated cameras and audio sensors throughout the preserve, the system tracks migration patterns while minimizing human interference with animal behavior."

Now let's really understand what this is telling us:

• "combining motion-activated cameras and audio sensors throughout the preserve"
  • This phrase starting with "combining" describes HOW something works
  • It's telling us the system uses cameras AND audio sensors spread throughout the preserve
• Then after a comma, we get: "the system tracks migration patterns while minimizing human interference with animal behavior"
  • Notice we have a NEW subject here: "the system"
  • With its own verb: "tracks"
  • This is telling us what the system does: it tracks animal migrations without disturbing the animals

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We actually have TWO complete thoughts:
  • Thought 1: "The conservation organization deployed BioScan—an integrated wildlife monitoring network."
    • Subject: the conservation organization
    • Verb: deployed
    • This is a complete sentence
  • Thought 2: "The system tracks migration patterns..."
    • Subject: the system
    • Verb: tracks
    • This is also a complete sentence
    • It has an introductory phrase: "Combining motion-activated cameras and audio sensors throughout the preserve" that describes the system
• These are two separate complete thoughts, each with its own subject and verb
• When we have two complete thoughts, we can't just connect them with a comma (that creates what's called a comma splice or run-on sentence)
• We need to separate them properly with a period

So the correct answer is Choice B: We need a period after "network" to end the first sentence, and then "Combining" needs to be capitalized to start the new sentence.

The structure becomes:

• Sentence 1: "The conservation organization deployed BioScan—an integrated wildlife monitoring network."
• Sentence 2: "Combining motion-activated cameras and audio sensors throughout the preserve, the system tracks migration patterns while minimizing human interference with animal behavior."

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Separating Complete Thoughts to Avoid Run-on Sentences

When you have two complete thoughts (called independent clauses in grammar terms) - each with its own subject and verb that could stand alone as a sentence - you cannot join them with just a comma. That creates a comma splice, which is a type of run-on sentence.

You need to separate them with:

• A period (creating two sentences)
• A semicolon
• A comma + coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so, for, nor, yet)

In this question:

Thought 1 (complete):

• "The conservation organization deployed BioScan—an integrated wildlife monitoring network."
• Subject: The conservation organization
• Verb: deployed
• Can stand alone ✓

Thought 2 (complete):

• "The system tracks migration patterns while minimizing human interference with animal behavior."
• Subject: the system
• Verb: tracks
• Can stand alone ✓

How this applies to our question:

The wrong choices (A, C, D) all try to keep this as ONE sentence, which results in having two independent clauses with only a comma between them (after "preserve"). That's a comma splice.

Choice B correctly uses a period after "network" to separate the two complete thoughts into two proper sentences. The second sentence then begins with an introductory participial phrase ("Combining...preserve") that describes the system, followed by the main clause ("the system tracks migration patterns...").