The renowned composer completed the _____ labored on the complex orchestration for nearly a decade, just months before the premiere...

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 renowned composer completed the symphony (?) labored on the complex orchestration
• for nearly a decade,
• just months before the premiere
• performance in Vienna.

Where (?) represents what varies:

• Choice A: . Having
• Choice B: and having
• Choice C: having (nothing)
• Choice D: , having

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

'The renowned composer completed the symphony'

• This tells us the main action:
  • A famous composer finished writing a symphony.

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

• They're asking us to decide how to connect what comes next
• Should it be a period? The word "and"? A comma? Nothing?

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

The sentence continues: 'having labored on the complex orchestration for nearly a decade, just months before the premiere performance in Vienna.'

Now let's understand what this is telling us:

• 'having labored on the complex orchestration for nearly a decade'
  • This is giving us background information about the composer's work
  • It's telling us what had been happening BEFORE the completion
  • The composer had been working on the complex parts of the symphony (the orchestration) for almost ten years

• 'just months before the premiere performance in Vienna'
  • This tells us the timing - the composer finished just a few months before the symphony was going to be performed in Vienna

So the complete picture is:

• The composer finished this symphony after working on it for nearly a decade, and finished it shortly before it was scheduled to premiere.

What do we notice about the structure here?

• 'Completed' is the main action - that's what the sentence is fundamentally about
  • The composer COMPLETED the symphony

• 'Having labored on the complex orchestration for nearly a decade' is providing background information
  • It's explaining what led up to that completion
  • It's describing what the composer had been doing
  • This is supplementary information, not a second main action

• When we have this kind of descriptive phrase that provides background or additional context about the subject, we need to set it off with a comma

So we need Choice D: symphony, having

The comma properly separates the main statement from the descriptive phrase that gives us the background information.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Commas with Descriptive Phrases That Provide Background Information

When you have a phrase that provides supplementary or background information about your subject (called a participial phrase in grammar terms), you need to set it off with a comma. This type of phrase uses a verb form ending in "-ing" or starting with "having," but it's not the main action - it's describing or giving context:

Pattern:

• Main statement: [Subject] + [main verb] + [object]
• Add background with comma: [Subject] + [main verb] + [object], [descriptive phrase with -ing form]

Examples:

• Main statement: The scientist published her findings
• With background added: The scientist published her findings, having spent years analyzing the data
  • "Published" = main action
  • "Having spent years analyzing" = background information about what led to the publication

• Main statement: The artist unveiled the sculpture
• With background added: The artist unveiled the sculpture, having worked on it throughout the winter
  • "Unveiled" = main action
  • "Having worked on it" = background context

In our question:

• Main statement: The renowned composer completed the symphony
• With background added: The renowned composer completed the symphony, having labored on the complex orchestration for nearly a decade
  • "Completed" = main action (what the sentence is fundamentally about)
  • "Having labored" = background information (what led up to the completion)

The comma signals that what follows is supplementary information, not a new main action.