Sam works as a receptionist
‘Hello, co-worker!’ is Sam’s standard greeting
Sam, the receptionist’s standard greeting, is ‘Hello, co-worker!’
‘Hello, co-worker!’ is Sam’s standard greeting, a receptionist.
Sam the receptionist’s standard greeting is ‘Hello, co-worker!’
The standard greeting of a receptionist – ‘Hello, co-worker!’ – is Sam’s.
The correct answer and explanation is:
The correct sentence structure is: “Sam, the receptionist’s standard greeting, is ‘Hello, co-worker!'”
Here’s why: The sentence structure clearly places “Sam” as the subject, followed by “the receptionist’s standard greeting,” which acts as an appositive (a phrase that explains or identifies the subject further). The phrase “is ‘Hello, co-worker!'” directly describes the greeting Sam uses, making it clear and grammatically correct.
In the first option, “Hello, co-worker!” is positioned directly as Sam’s greeting, but the subject and context of who Sam is seem somewhat unclear, especially without commas separating the ideas.
In the second and third versions, the rearrangement causes some confusion because of the lack of clear structure, making it sound like “Hello, co-worker!” is the subject, which isn’t the intent. The same goes for the last version, where the phrase “the standard greeting of a receptionist” seems somewhat detached from Sam.
In any sentence, clarity is important. In this case, the sentence should first define who Sam is, then clarify the greeting she uses, making the final version the most clear and direct. By using commas correctly and aligning the subject (Sam) with the description (receptionist), the meaning comes across smoothly.
So, the ideal sentence structure provides a clear subject-predicate relationship and is easily understandable.