Question

the newcomen ______ one of the worlds first functional steam engines—used steam to create a vacuum that utilized atmospheric pressure to force a piston downward, moving in cycles of about twelve pumps per minute. which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of standard english? choose 1 answer: a engine b engine— c engine, d engine;

Explanation:

The text is about the Newcomen engine. The dash (-) after "engine" is incorrect as there is no need for a dash here. A comma (,) is used to separate the main clause "The Newcomen engine" from the description that follows. A semicolon (;) is used to separate two independent clauses, which is not the case here. And just "engine" without any punctuation would make the sentence structure incorrect.

Answer:

C. engine,