The renewable energy company has invested heavily in solar panel technology throughout the southwestern ______ continues to expand its wind...

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 renewable energy company
• has invested heavily in solar panel technology
• throughout the southwestern region (?)
• continues to expand its wind turbine operations
• along the Atlantic coast.

• Where (?) is one of:
• • region, and
• • region and,
• • region and
• • region,

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading and understanding this sentence:

The renewable energy company
has invested heavily in solar panel technology
throughout the southwestern region...

So we're learning about a renewable energy company that has been putting a lot of money and resources into solar panel technology in the southwestern part of the country.

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

• region, and
• region and,
• region and
• region,

So we're deciding whether we need 'and,' a comma, both, or neither. To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying!

The sentence continues with:
continues to expand its wind turbine operations
along the Atlantic coast.

Now let's understand what the complete sentence is telling us:

• The renewable energy company is doing TWO things:
  • First: has invested in solar panels in the southwestern region
  • Second: continues to expand wind turbines along the Atlantic coast
• Both of these actions are being done by the same subject - 'The renewable energy company'

What do we notice about the structure here?

• 'continues to expand its wind turbine operations' doesn't have its own subject stated
  • It shares the subject 'The renewable energy company' from the beginning
• This means we have one subject doing two actions - we're listing two things the company does
• When the same subject performs two actions and we're connecting them, we use 'and' to show they're parallel actions
• We DON'T use a comma before 'and' in this case because these aren't two separate complete thoughts - they're two actions by the same subject

So we need: region and (Choice C)

The complete sentence reads: 'The renewable energy company has invested heavily in solar panel technology throughout the southwestern region and continues to expand its wind turbine operations along the Atlantic coast.'

Grammar Concept Applied

Connecting Actions by the Same Subject (Compound Predicates)

When a single subject performs two or more actions, and you're connecting these actions, you join them with 'and' WITHOUT a comma (this is called a compound predicate in grammar terms):

Pattern:

• Subject + Action 1 and Action 2
• The subject is stated once
• The actions are connected with 'and' (no comma)

Examples:

1. Single subject, two actions:
   • 'Maria studied for the exam and passed with honors.'
   • Subject: Maria
   • Action 1: studied for the exam
   • Action 2: passed with honors
   • Connected with: 'and' (no comma)
2. Single subject, two actions (longer phrases):
   • 'The researcher analyzed decades of climate data and discovered a previously unknown pattern.'
   • Subject: The researcher
   • Action 1: analyzed decades of climate data
   • Action 2: discovered a previously unknown pattern
   • Connected with: 'and' (no comma)

Compare this to two independent clauses:

• When EACH part has its own subject and could stand alone as a complete sentence, you use ', and':
• 'Maria studied for the exam, and she passed with honors.' (two complete thoughts)

In our question:

• Subject: The renewable energy company (stated once)
• Action 1: has invested heavily in solar panel technology throughout the southwestern region
• Action 2: continues to expand its wind turbine operations along the Atlantic coast
• These are connected with: 'and' (no comma needed)