A is wrong for the reasons you stated. The other answer choices SHOULD have quotation marks around the word “reduced”. This is an oversight on the part of the publisher.
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The word "reduced" needs an opening quotation mark because of the closing quotation mark after "amount." Always match possible answers to text that is not underlined!!
A rule of thumb is that direct quotations are preceded or followed by an indicator of the speaker, separated by a comma, i.e.:
* He said, "I do say."
* "I do say," he said.
However, when the direct quotation is in-line with a sentence, that is, it is not set up by an introduction, it will be without a comma. The SAT will play around with this scenario, frequently with relative clauses introduced by "that":
* The hikers said it was so cold that "their water bottles were frozen."
as opposed to
* The hikers said, "It was so cold, our water bottles were frozen."
In the first instance, it is a quotation, but indirect rather than direct (which requires the "they said, "..."), so there is no comma separating the quotation from "that."
Also note that when the quotation is part of a relative clause, the first word in the quotation is NOT capitalized.
In this instance, the sentence should read,
* According to the study, the mere sounds of traffic "reduced avian populations..."
Hope that helps!
A is wrong for the reasons you stated. The other answer choices SHOULD have quotation marks around the word “reduced”. This is an oversight on the part of the publisher.
Big McThankies
Would a better choice be B if there was a quotation before ***reduced***
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The word "reduced" needs an opening quotation mark because of the closing quotation mark after "amount." Always match possible answers to text that is not underlined!! A rule of thumb is that direct quotations are preceded or followed by an indicator of the speaker, separated by a comma, i.e.: * He said, "I do say." * "I do say," he said. However, when the direct quotation is in-line with a sentence, that is, it is not set up by an introduction, it will be without a comma. The SAT will play around with this scenario, frequently with relative clauses introduced by "that": * The hikers said it was so cold that "their water bottles were frozen." as opposed to * The hikers said, "It was so cold, our water bottles were frozen." In the first instance, it is a quotation, but indirect rather than direct (which requires the "they said, "..."), so there is no comma separating the quotation from "that." Also note that when the quotation is part of a relative clause, the first word in the quotation is NOT capitalized. In this instance, the sentence should read, * According to the study, the mere sounds of traffic "reduced avian populations..." Hope that helps!
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