The company’s new marketing campaign, which was supposed to increase sales, has actually had the opposite effect. The company’s profits have decreased, _and_ its stock price has fallen.
","stem_html":"Which of the following correctly combines the two sentences?
","rationale_html":"The correct answer is C because it uses the conjunction "and" to join the two independent clauses and a comma to separate them. A comma is used to separate two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction. Choice A is incorrect because a comma isn’t used to separate two independent clauses without a conjunction. Choice B is incorrect because a semicolon is used to separate two independent clauses when the second clause explains, illustrates, or summarizes the first clause, which is not the case in this sentence. Choice D is incorrect because the use of "because" results in a dependent clause, making the sentence a comma splice, which is an error.
","correct_answer":["C"],"has_media":false,"has_mathml":false,"has_table":false,"source_created_at":null,"source_updated_at":null,"options":[{"label":"A","content_html":"The company’s new marketing campaign, which was supposed to increase sales, has actually had the opposite effect, its stock price has fallen.
","ord":0},{"label":"B","content_html":"The company’s new marketing campaign, which was supposed to increase sales, has actually had the opposite effect; its stock price has fallen.
","ord":1},{"label":"C","content_html":"The company’s new marketing campaign, which was supposed to increase sales, has actually had the opposite effect, and its stock price has fallen.
","ord":2},{"label":"D","content_html":"The company’s new marketing campaign, which was supposed to increase sales, has actually had the opposite effect, because its stock price has fallen.
","ord":3}],"attribution":{"source_id":"opensat","source_name":"OpenSAT community question bank","rights_holder":"OpenSAT contributors","canonical_url":"https://github.com/Anas099X/OpenSAT","retrieved_from":"https://pinesat.duckdns.org/api/questions","attribution":"Reading and Writing practice questions from the OpenSAT community question bank, whose licence permits free use of the database.","disclaimer":"OpenSAT items are community-written or AI-generated practice material, not official College Board questions; quality varies.","license":"OpenSAT LICENSE.md: the database may be used freely, including commercially, without restriction. Code is separately restricted.","redistributable":true,"item_count":1406}}