Question

starfish get their name from their star - like shape, with five arms that emanate from a central disk. however, there are numerous examples ______ starfish with varying arm counts throughout the world’s oceans, including the remarkable antarctic sun starfish, which can develop more than 50 arms.
which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of standard english?
choose 1 answer:
a of,
b of;
c of:
d of

Explanation:

The phrase "examples of" is a standard prepositional phrase meaning instances related to something. The sentence structure here requires a comma after "examples of starfish..." to separate the introductory phrase from the main clause that follows (explaining the examples). Option A uses "of," with a comma, which fits the grammatical and stylistic conventions of Standard English. Option B uses a semicolon, which is incorrect here as there's no independent clause before it. Option C uses a colon, which is not appropriate for this context. Option D lacks the necessary comma.

Answer:

A. of,