Answer:
The sentence "He quit smoking five years ago; he still craves a cigarette from time to time" is written correctly.
Explanation:
In the structure we are analyzing here, we have two independent clauses that were correctly put together with proper punctuation. It's worth remembering that an independent clause is a group of words that can stay alone as a sentence. It offers information that makes sense without the help of another sentence.
A run-on sentence only happens when independent clauses are joined incorrectly. If put together without any sort of punctuation, we have a fused sentence. When we join them only with a comma, we have a comma splice. One way to prevent these mistakes from happening is to join the clauses with a semicolon, and that is precisely what we have in the structure given. It is safe to conclude, thus, that "He quit smoking five years ago; he still craves a cigarette from time to time" is correct.
In "Two Friends," Maupassant tells the story of two Frenchmen who meet a sad end. The two old friends meet randomly in the street one day and decide to have a drink and go fishing. The two are French soldiers fighting in the Franco-Prussian War. They go fishing to get a brief break from all the stress.
While they are fishing, they are caught by enemy (Prussian) soldiers. The soldiers say they can either execute them or let them live -- IF they give them some information about the French troops. Of course, neither man wants to be guilty of treason, and so they are shot by the troops.
To best answer the above question about their friendship, we have to read the given lines carefully and eliminate any which does not work.
Answer C. is clearly incorrect, as the two do not set out to be heroes. The two only want to escape the stress of the war by fishing for a couple of hours.
Answer B. is also incorrect as well. Perhaps their friendship does "transcend death" -- however, the fact that they say farewell and tremble does not indicate this.
Answer D. is partially correct. The two have been friends for many years and are willing to die for the good of their country. However, their final words do not necessarily indicate that they are honored to die for their country. Instead, their final words almost indicate they are laughing at the irony of getting killed just for fishing.
Answer A. best describes the nature of their friendship. They are such good friends that they do not even need to talk; instead, they can sit in silence. Therefore, option A. is the best answer to this question.
