Question

\you should get a part - time job to help make ends meet\ luke told phoebe as she stared in dismay at the pile of car repair and medical bills.
what change, if any, should be made to correct an error in punctuation?
a. add a colon after at
b. add a comma after repair
c. no change
d. add a comma after meet

Explanation:

In the sentence, the quote is a direct statement from Luke. When a quote is introduced by a reporting clause (here, "Luke told Phoebe..."), if the quote comes after the reporting clause, we use a comma after the reporting clause. But in this case, the quote is at the start, and the reporting clause follows. The correct punctuation for a direct quote is to use a comma after the closing quotation mark if the reporting clause follows. Wait, no—wait, the original sentence: "You should get a part - time job to help make ends meet" Luke told Phoebe... The quote is a complete sentence, and when the speaker (Luke) and the reporting verb (told) come after the quote, we need to put a comma after the quote (after "meet") before the reporting clause. So option D is correct because we need to separate the direct quote from the reporting clause with a comma after "meet". Let's check the other options: Option A: adding a colon after "at" is incorrect as there's no list or explanation following. Option B: adding a comma after "repair" is unnecessary as "car repair and medical bills" is a compound noun phrase without a need for a comma. Option C: "NO CHANGE" is wrong because the punctuation after the quote is incorrect.

Answer:

D. add a comma after meet