During the English neoclassical period (1660–1789), many writers imitated the epic poetry and satires of ancient Greece and
Rome. They were not the ﬁrst in England to adopt the literary modes of classical ______ some of the most prominent ﬁgures
of the earlier Renaissance period were also inﬂuenced by ancient Greek and Roman literature.
antiquity, however
antiquity, however,
antiquity, however;
antiquity; however,
Choice C is the best answer. The convention being tested is the punctuation of a supplementary phrase following a clause.
This choice uses a comma to separate the supplementary adverb phrase “however” from the independent clause it modiﬁes
(“They …antiquity”) and uses a semicolon to join the ﬁrst independent clause (“They …antiquity”) and the second independent
clause (“some…literature”). Further, placing the semicolon after “however” indicates that the information in the clause that
this part of (that neoclassical writers were not the ﬁrst to adopt classical literary modes) is contrary to what might be
assumed from the information in the previous sentence (that the neoclassical writers were unique in imitating classical epic
poetry and satires).
Choice A is incorrect because it fails to mark the boundary after “however” between the two independent clauses with
appropriate punctuation. Choice B is incorrect because the comma after “however” can’t be used in this way to mark the
boundary between the two independent clauses. Choice D is incorrect because placing the semicolon after “antiquity”
illogically indicates that the information in the clause that this part of (that prominent Renaissance ﬁgures were also
inﬂuenced by classical literature) is contrary to the information in the previous clause (that neoclassical writers were not the
ﬁrst to adopt classical literary modes).