With some 16,000 in attendance, the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and _________ or FESTAC '77, as...

Sentence Structure

• With some 16,000 in attendance,
  • the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture[?]
    • or FESTAC '77,
      • as the event was more commonly known—
  • became the largest pan-African event on record.
• FESTAC drew people from around the world to Lagos, Nigeria,
  • for a monthlong celebration
    • of Black and African art, scholarship, and activism.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

'With some 16,000 in attendance'

• This sets the scene - telling us about 16,000 people attended something

'the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture'

• This is the name of the event that had 16,000 people

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

• A colon (:), a dash (—), a comma (,), or nothing
• We're deciding what punctuation (if any) goes after 'Culture'

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

'or FESTAC '77, as the event was more commonly known—became the largest pan-African event on record.'

Now let's really understand what this is telling us:

• 'or FESTAC '77, as the event was more commonly known'
  • This gives us an alternative, shorter name for the festival
  • 'FESTAC '77' is what people commonly called it
  • This is extra information - an aside that interrupts the main sentence
• Notice what comes after 'known': there's a DASH (—)
  • This dash appears to be closing off that interrupting information
• 'became the largest pan-African event on record'
  • This is what the sentence is ultimately telling us - this festival became the biggest pan-African event ever recorded

So the complete picture is:

• The main sentence is: 'the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture became the largest pan-African event on record'
• Interrupting that main sentence is the alternative name: 'or FESTAC '77, as the event was more commonly known'

What do we notice about the structure here?

• The interrupting phrase has a DASH at the end (after 'known')
  • This is closing off the interruption
• When you set off interrupting information, you need PAIRED punctuation
  • One mark to open the interruption
  • One mark to close the interruption
  • They must MATCH - both commas, both dashes, or both parentheses
• Since there's a dash CLOSING the interruption (after 'known')
  • There must be a dash OPENING the interruption (after 'Culture')

So we need Choice B: Culture—

The full structure with both dashes is:
the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture—or FESTAC '77, as the event was more commonly known—became the largest pan-African event on record.'

The second sentence just adds more detail:

• FESTAC drew people from around the world to Lagos, Nigeria
• For a month-long celebration of Black and African art, scholarship, and activism

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Paired Punctuation for Interrupting Information

When you want to insert additional information that interrupts the main flow of a sentence, you must use paired punctuation (called parenthetical punctuation in grammar terms). The key rule is: whatever punctuation you use to open the interruption, you must use the same punctuation to close it.

Three options for paired punctuation:

1. Pair of commas (for standard interruptions):
   • Main sentence: The conference became a huge success
   • With interruption: The conference, which lasted three days, became a huge success
2. Pair of dashes (for emphatic interruptions or stronger breaks):
   • Main sentence: The discovery changed everything
   • With interruption: The discovery—the first of its kind—changed everything
3. Pair of parentheses (for true asides):
   • Main sentence: The results were surprising
   • With interruption: The results (see Table 3) were surprising

In this question:

• Main sentence: "the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture became the largest pan-African event on record"
• Interrupting phrase: "or FESTAC '77, as the event was more commonly known"
• There's a dash AFTER "known" (closing the interruption)
• Therefore, there must be a dash AFTER "Culture" (opening the interruption)
• Result: "Culture—or FESTAC '77, as the event was more commonly known—became"

The critical rule: Never mix punctuation types! You cannot use comma-dash, colon-dash, or any other mismatch. The opening and closing marks must be the same type.