Question

Which of the following sentences is punctuated correctly?

1) Two full years before the presidential election, the candidates began raising funds campaigning, giving interviews, and debating.
2) Two full years before the presidential election the candidates began raising funds, campaigning, giving interviews and debating.
3) Two full years before the presidential election, the candidates began raising funds, campaigning, giving interviews, and debating.
4) Two full years before the presidential election the candidates began raising funds, campaigning, giving interviews, and debating.

Answer 1

The sentence punctuated correctly is the one that includes a comma after the introductory phrase and uses the Oxford comma in the list of activities.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct sentence in terms of punctuation among the given options is: "Two full years before the presidential election, the candidates began raising funds, campaigning, giving interviews, and debating." Therefore, the correct option is 3). It is punctuated correctly because it has a comma after the introductory phrase "Two full years before the presidential election," which is a standard punctuation rule in English writing. Additionally, the series of activities (raising funds, campaigning, giving interviews, and debating) are separated by commas, which is known as the Oxford or serial comma, used before 'and' in a list of three or more items.