The first computerized spreadsheet, Dan Bricklin’s VisiCalc improved financial recordkeeping not only by providing users with an easy means of adjusting data in spreadsheets but also by automatically updating all calculations that were dependent on these____to VisiCalc’s release, changing a paper spreadsheet often required redoing the entire sheet by hand, a process that could take days.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) adjustments and prior

B) adjustments. Prior

C) adjustments prior

D) adjustments, prior

In his 1953 exhibition Exposition of Music—Electronic Television, Korean-American artist Nam Jon Hook showed how television images could be manipulated to express an artist’s perspective. Today, Paik____is considered the first video artist.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) will be

B) had been

C) was

D) is

Stomata, tiny pore structures in a leaf that absorb gases needed for plant growth, open when guard cells surrounding each pore swell with water. In a pivotal 2010 article, plant cell____showed that lipid molecules called phosphatidylinositol phosphates are responsible for signaling guard cells to open stomata.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) biologist Yuree Lee

B) biologist, Yuree Lee,

C) biologist, Yuree Lee

D) biologist Yuree Lee,

"Despite being cost, and easy to produce,____they are made from nonrenewable petroleum, and most do not biodegrade in landfills.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) two problems are associated with commercial plastics:

B) commercial plastics’ two associated problems are that

C) commercial plastics have two associated problems:

D) there are two problems associated with commercial plastics:

In order to prevent nonnative fish species from moving freely between the Mediterranean and Red Seas marine biologist Galil has proposed that a saline lock system be installed along the Suez Canal in Egypt’s Great Bitter Lakes. The lock would increase the salinity of the lakes and____a natural barrier of water, most marine creatures would be unable to cross.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) creates

B) create

C) created

D) creating