In ancient Greece, an Epicurean was a follower of Epicurus, a philosopher whose beliefs revolved around the pursuit of
pleasure. Epicurus deﬁned pleasure as “the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the ______ that all life’s virtues
derived from this absence.
soul,” positing
soul”: positing
soul”; positing
soul.” Positing
Choice A is the best answer. The convention being tested is punctuation use between a main clause and a participial phrase.
This choice correctly uses a comma to mark the boundary between the main clause (“Epicurus…‘soul’”) and the participial
phrase (“positing…absence”) that provides additional information about how Epicurus deﬁned pleasure.
Choice B is incorrect because a colon can’t be used in this way to join a main clause and a participial phrase. Choice C is
incorrect because a semicolon can’t be used in this way to join a main clause and a participial phrase. Choice D is incorrect
because it results in a rhetorically unacceptable sentence fragment beginning with “positing.”