Using satellite remote sensing, Dr. Catherine Nakalembe, director of NASA's Harvest Africa initiative, gathers important data on crop health. Nakalemb...

Sentence Structure

• Using satellite remote sensing,
  • Dr. Catherine Nakalembe,
    • director of NASA's Harvest Africa initiative,
  • gathers important data on crop health.

• Nakalembe doesn't just compile the information [?] she also shares her findings with African farmers,
  • enabling them to make data-driven decisions
    • about managing critical food crops.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence tells us what Dr. Nakalembe does:

• Using satellite remote sensing
• Dr. Catherine Nakalembe (who is the director of NASA's Harvest Africa initiative)
• gathers important data on crop health

Now the second sentence tells us something important about what she does with that data:

• "Nakalembe doesn't just compile the information..."

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

• A: information, though;
• B: information, though,
• C: information; though
• D: information though,

The choices show we're deciding how to punctuate around the word "though."

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

The complete sentence is:
"Nakalembe doesn't just compile the information [blank] she also shares her findings with African farmers, enabling them to make data-driven decisions about managing critical food crops."

Now let's understand what this structure is doing:

• "Nakalembe doesn't just compile the information, though"
  • This is saying she compiles the data, BUT that's not all she does
  • "Though" here is adding emphasis - like "yes, she does that, though"
  • This is a complete thought (subject "Nakalembe" + verb "compile")

• "she also shares her findings with African farmers"
  • This tells us what ELSE she does beyond just compiling
  • This is also a complete thought (subject "she" + verb "shares")

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have two complete independent clauses - two complete thoughts
• "Though" belongs at the END of the first thought (it's emphasizing what she doesn't JUST do)
• When you have two complete thoughts, you can't just put them next to each other or separate them with only a comma

So we need:

• A comma before "though" (to set it off at the end of the first clause)
• A semicolon after "though" (to properly separate the two complete thoughts)

The correct answer is Choice A: information, though;

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Semicolons with Transitional Words at the End of Clauses

When you have two complete independent clauses and a transitional word (called a conjunctive adverb in grammar terms) appears at the END of the first clause rather than at the beginning of the second, you need specific punctuation:

Pattern: Independent clause, [transitional word]; independent clause.

Example 1:

• Wrong: "The experiment failed, however, we learned from it"
• Correct: "The experiment failed, however; we learned from it"
• Complete thought 1: "The experiment failed, however"
• Complete thought 2: "we learned from it"

Example 2:

• Wrong: "She studied all night, therefore, she was exhausted"
• Correct: "She studied all night, therefore; she was exhausted"

In our question:

• Complete thought 1: "Nakalembe doesn't just compile the information, though"
• Complete thought 2: "she also shares her findings with African farmers..."
• Result: "information, though; she also shares"

The comma sets off the transitional word as part of the first clause, and the semicolon provides the necessary separation between two independent clauses.