The Springfield Historical Society recently acquired a collection of Civil War correspondence and photographs. The acquisition was celebrated by the...

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 Springfield Historical Society
  • recently acquired
    • a collection of Civil War correspondence and photographs.
• The acquisition
  • was celebrated
    • by the society's [founder (?) Margaret Chen (?)]
      • at a ceremony
        • attended by local historians and donors.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

The first sentence is straightforward:

• The Springfield Historical Society recently acquired a collection of Civil War correspondence and photographs.
  • A historical society got some historical materials.

Now the second sentence:

• "The acquisition was celebrated by the society's..."
  • The thing they acquired was celebrated
  • By whom? By the society's [something]

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

• All of them have "founder Margaret Chen"
• What varies is the punctuation around this name

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

The complete phrase is:

• "...celebrated by the society's founder Margaret Chen at a ceremony attended by local historians and donors."

So the society's founder, Margaret Chen, celebrated this acquisition at a ceremony with historians and donors present.

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have "founder" followed by "Margaret Chen"
  • "founder" is the general role or position
  • "Margaret Chen" is the specific name telling us WHO that founder is
  • The name is giving us identifying information about the founder
• The sentence continues after "Margaret Chen"
  • It doesn't end with the name
  • It keeps going: "...at a ceremony attended by..."
• This is a noun followed by a specific name that identifies it
  • When you add a name like this that specifies who you're talking about,
  • And the sentence continues afterward,
  • You need to set off that name with commas on BOTH sides

Think of it like this:

• Opening comma: "Here comes the specific name"
• Closing comma: "Okay, back to the main sentence now"

So we need: founder, Margaret Chen, (with commas before AND after)

The correct answer is A.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Commas to Set Off Identifying Names and Phrases

When you mention a noun and then immediately provide a specific name or phrase that identifies or renames it, you use commas to set off that identifying information - especially when your sentence continues afterward (this structure is called an appositive in grammar terms). The pattern looks like this:

Pattern: [General noun], [specific identifier], [rest of sentence]

Here's how it works:

Example 1:

• Without identifier: "The director announced the policy."
• With identifier: "The director, Sarah Johnson, announced the policy."
• "director" = general role
• "Sarah Johnson" = specific name identifying which director
• Commas before AND after because the sentence continues

Example 2:

• Without identifier: "The city hosted the championship."
• With identifier: "The city, Boston, hosted the championship."
• "city" = general noun
• "Boston" = specific identifier
• Commas on both sides

In our question:

• "the society's founder, Margaret Chen, at a ceremony..."
• "founder" = general role
• "Margaret Chen" = specific person who is that founder
• Commas needed before and after because the sentence continues with "at a ceremony"

Important note: If the sentence ended right after the identifier, you'd only need one comma:

• "The ceremony was led by the society's founder, Margaret Chen."

But when the sentence continues (as it does here with "at a ceremony attended by..."), you need both commas to properly set off the identifying information.