Despite being biodegradable and derived from renewable resources, ______ production costs remain high, preventing their widespread adoption in the packaging industry.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
there is a downside to bioplastics:
bioplastics have a major downside:
the major downside of bioplastics is that
bioplastics’ major downside is that:
Correct Answer: B
Choice B is the best answer. It uses a colon to correctly link an independent clause ("bioplastics have a major downside") with the clause that explains it ("production costs remain high..."). Also, "bioplastics" serves as the correct subject for the introductory modifier "Despite being biodegradable..."
Choice A is incorrect because the phrasing "there is a downside..." makes the first part independent, but it doesn't properly align with the introductory modifier. Choices C and D are incorrect because they create sentence fragments or awkward constructions. The phrase "the major downside... is that" leads into an explanation but cannot be followed by a colon to end the clause in this specific syntactic structure without creating a fragment.