The haiku-like poems of Tomas Tranströmer, which present nature- and dream-influenced images in crisp, spare language, have earned the Swedish...

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 haiku-like poems of Tomas Tranströmer,
  • which present nature- and dream-influenced images
    • in crisp, spare language,
• have earned the Swedish poet praise
  • from leading contemporary writers [?] them
    • Nigerian American essayist
      • and novelist Teju Cole,
    • who has written
      • that Tranströmer's works
        • 'contain a luminous simplicity.'

[?] = what varies in our choices (period vs. nothing vs. semicolon vs. comma)

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading and understanding:

The sentence begins by telling us about Tranströmer's poems:

• "The haiku-like poems of Tomas Tranströmer, which present nature- and dream-influenced images in crisp, spare language"
  • These poems have a haiku-like quality
  • They present images influenced by nature and dreams
  • The language is crisp and spare

Now we get to the main point:

• "have earned the Swedish poet praise from leading contemporary writers"
  • These poems have earned Tranströmer praise
  • This praise comes from leading contemporary writers

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

• A: period + "Among"
• B: just "among" (no punctuation)
• C: semicolon + "among"
• D: comma + "among"

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

The sentence continues:

• "among them Nigerian American essayist and novelist Teju Cole, who has written that Tranströmer's works 'contain a luminous simplicity.'"

Now let's understand what this is telling us:

• "among them"
  • means "among these contemporary writers" - it's introducing a specific example
• "Nigerian American essayist and novelist Teju Cole"
  • This gives us a specific name - one of the contemporary writers who has praised Tranströmer
• "who has written that Tranströmer's works 'contain a luminous simplicity'"
  • This tells us what Teju Cole specifically said about the works

So the complete picture is:

• The poems earned praise from contemporary writers, and the sentence is giving us a specific example: Teju Cole is one of those writers, and here's what he wrote.

What do we notice about the structure here?

• "The poems have earned praise from leading contemporary writers"
  • This is a complete thought - it could stand alone as a sentence
• "among them Nigerian American essayist and novelist Teju Cole, who has written..."
  • This is NOT a complete thought
  • It's a phrase that adds specific information about which writers we're talking about
  • It's giving us an example from the group just mentioned

When we're adding extra descriptive information that gives a specific example or detail about something we just mentioned, we use a comma to connect it smoothly.

So we need Choice D: a comma before "among"

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Commas to Add Specific Examples or Details

When you mention a general group or concept and then want to give specific examples or additional details about it, use a comma to introduce that information:

Pattern:

• General statement + comma + specific example/detail

Example 1:

• "The museum features works by famous artists, among them Picasso and Monet."
  • General: famous artists
  • Specific: Picasso and Monet are examples

Example 2:

• "Several scientists contributed to the discovery, including Dr. Chen, who led the research team."
  • General: several scientists
  • Specific: Dr. Chen as one example

In our question:

• "praise from leading contemporary writers, among them Nigerian American essayist and novelist Teju Cole"
  • General: leading contemporary writers
  • Specific: Teju Cole as one example

This type of additional information (sometimes called a supplementary phrase in grammar terms) isn't essential to the basic meaning of the sentence - the sentence would be complete without it - but it adds helpful specific detail. The comma signals: "Here's more information about what I just mentioned."