According to Naomi Nakayama of the University of Edinburgh, the reason seeds from a dying dandelion appear to float in the air while _______ is that their porous plumes enhance drag, allowing the seeds to stay airborne long enough for the wind to disperse them throughout the surrounding area.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Explanation
Context: "...the reason seeds from a dying dandelion appear to float in the air while falling is that their porous plumes enhance drag..." "While falling" — "falling" is a gerund/present participle in a temporal adverbial clause. No punctuation after "falling."
Answer: D) falling
Why? "While falling" is a simple subordinate clause functioning as an adverbial modifier. No punctuation interrupts "while" from "falling" or "falling" from the main clause.
Traps:
- A) "falling," → comma after "falling" incorrectly separates "while falling" from the main clause
- B) "falling:" → colon after "falling" is incorrect
- C) "falling;" → semicolon after "falling" is incorrect