I agree with 3 (C)
book is a masterpiece, not author

the , is indicating that the modifier is non essential.

priyankamishra11 wrote:Although reclusive author Harper Lee wrote just one book in her lifetime and that book is widely considered a masterpiece.
1- lifetime and that book
2- lifetime and it
3- lifetime, that book
4 - lifetime; it
5- lifetime; that book
I got the right answer 3.

Is use of comma before THAT is justified.?

Here we have two independent clauses:

1) reclusive author Harper Lee wrote just one book in her lifetime;

and

2) that book is widely considered a masterpiece.

Two independent clauses must be connected by 1 and only 1 connector.

"Although" appears in the non-underlined part of the sentence, so that's the only connector that we're allowed to use.

(1) and (2) both have "and", a second connector. Eliminate (1) and (2).

(4) and (5) both have a semicolon. Semicolons can precede a connector, but rarely, if ever, follow an introductory clause that begins with a connector. Elminate (4) and (5).

Only (3) has no connector issues: choose (3).

In this question we need "that book" because "it" would properly refer to "her lifetime", not the "one book" - another reason to eliminate (2) and (4).

Technically your original comment raises a good point - we would use "which book" (or just "which" if we didn't have a modification issue) instead of "that book" if we're just adding a parenthetical comment to the first part of the sentence. However, if we look at the sentence as composed of two independent clauses, "that" is correct.

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for your reply. It was a very nice explanation.

One thing i would like to confirm, as you said
Semicolons can precede a connector, but rarely, if ever, follow an introductory clause that begins with a connector

So, you mean we can use a semicolon in a construction such as

Although reclusive author Harper Lee wrote just one book in her lifetime; but that book is widely considered a masterpiece.

In this sentence semicolon precedes a connector. Is this sentence correct or I misunderstood something?


Thanks,
Priyanka

The connector here is Although. As Stuart mentioned, there is no need for another connector after the comma. I would imagine the following sentence to be an example of what Stuart was saying:

The reclusive author Harper Lee wrote just one book in her lifetime; and that book is widely considered a masterpiece.

nox104 wrote:The connector here is Although. As Stuart mentioned, there is no need for another connector after the comma. I would imagine the following sentence to be an example of what Stuart was saying:

The reclusive author Harper Lee wrote just one book in her lifetime; and that book is widely considered a masterpiece.

Actually, "and" would be redundant with the semicolon in that sentence.

We'd see a connector after the semicolon if we're switching directions. For example:

The reclusive author Harper Lee wrote just one book in her lifetime; however, that book is widely considered a masterpiece.