Question: I'd like to ask for the community's opinion regarding the correct usage of a comma for a quoted question.

In a situation such as this, which of the two following sentences would be correct? The placement of the comma is the only difference, and I can't seem to pinpoint which one is correct.

> 
> A popular answer to the common introductory question "What is your favorite color?," red is a color that is beloved by many.
> 
> 
> A popular answer to the common introductory question "What is your favorite color?", red is a color that is beloved by many.
> 
> 
>

Answer: 
Berserk is an odd option here. **Violent** would provide better meaning. (i)Brusque implies a lack of manners. That's a very *hoity-toity* way of putting it. Pacific is just flat out wrong, it means 'peaceful'. No one stops for picnics in the park in the middle of a revolution. (ii) "more peaceful" implies a calming down, so spreading, metastasizing is out, as is growing. That leaves only recede as viable. Crane Brinton [wrote on the French revolution in 1934](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_Brinton). 

There's been considerable linguistic drift since then. Brinton does *not* read like a modern American writer.
If it helps, let's rewrite the sentence replacing some possibly difficult words with simpler ones in the context:

First, I'll give definitions of the words I'll be replacing:

> 
> temperate  
>  adjective  
> 
>  2.  
>  a. Moderate in degree or quality; restrained.  
>  b. Exercising moderation and self-restraint.  
>  [American Heritage
>  Dictionary](https://www.thefreedictionary.com/temperate)
> 
> 
> inexorably  
>  inexorable  
>  adjective  
> 
>  1. Impossible to stop, alter, or resist; inevitable: an inexorable fate; an inexorable law of nature.  
>  [American Heritage
>  Dictionary](https://www.thefreedictionary.com/inexorable)
> 
> 
> 

The most obscure word here is "Thermidor", it refers to the month in the new calendar adopted in France during the French Revolution. Of particular note is this association:

> 
> On 9 Thermidor Year II (27 July 1794), the French politician
>  Maximilien Robespierre was denounced by members of the National
>  Convention as "a tyrant", leading to Robespierre and twenty-one
>  associates including Louis Antoine de Saint-Just being arrested that
>  night and beheaded on the following day.  
>  [Thermidorian reaction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermidorian_Reaction)
> 
> 
> Because of the Thermidorian reaction ... the word "Thermidor" has come
>  to mean a retreat from more radical goals and strategies during a
>  revolution, especially when caused by a replacement of leading
>  personalities.  
>  [Thermidor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermidor)
> 
> 
> 

So at the end of the sentence we have "a peaceful period of “Thermidor” ensues", or peaceful period of diminished radicalism or extremism. Really you can throw out the reference to Thermidor, because the word "peaceful" does all the explaining that things settle down into a more peaceful state. 

So let's rewrite the sentence with the replacements in brackets:

> 
> Crane Brinton argued that the middle phases of revolutions are
>  especially (i) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ because the unleashed force of social
>  momentum transfers power [unavoidably] from more stable forces to less
>  [restrained] ones. 
> 
> 
> 

After the first blank it says essentially that a revolution becomes less restrained. Which of the optional words do you think match "less restrained":

* (A) brusque (B) berserk (C) pacific

> 
> Yet, he then goes on to say that the excesses (ii)
>  \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ and a more peaceful period of [diminished extremism] ensues.
> 
> 
> 

Then the author says that after a previous period of unrest and disturbance the revolution settles into a more peaceful condition.

Which of the following words would you associate most with troublesome times (excesses) going away?

* (D) metastasize (E) grow (F) recede

Hope that helped.