Note: the way you typed it, options A and C are the same. I've looked it up online, and found this same question. Option A is supposed to have another semicolon after the word "however", which differentiates it from letter C.
Which sentence is punctuated correctly?
A. Wordsworth is lonely at the start of his poem; however; his mood changes when he sees the daffodils.
B. Wordsworth is lonely at the start of his poem, however, his mood changes when he sees the daffodils.
C. Wordsworth is lonely at the start of his poem; however, his mood changes when he sees the daffodils.
D. Wordsworth is lonely at the start of his poem however his mood changes when he sees the daffodils.
Answer:
C. Wordsworth is lonely at the start of his poem; however, his mood changes when he sees the daffodils.
Explanation:
When using the adverb "however" to connect different sentences (not just different clauses), we need to pay special attention to punctuation. The two sentences must be separated either by a semicolon or by a period. We can, therefore, eliminate options B and C, since they use a comma and no punctuation, respectively.
We are left with options A and C. Option A uses another semicolon after "however", breaking it away from the sentence it is supposed to be included in. Such isolation makes no grammatical sense and is incorrect. The best option is letter C. "However" is separated from the previous independent sentence by a semicolon, and appropriately included in the other sentence with a comma.
