How is the sentence below best written?

If he loses the bet Thomas will have to buy a new jersey for everyone on the team.

A.

Thomas will have to buy a new jersey for everyone on the team. If he loses the bet.

B.

If he loses the bet; Thomas will have to buy a new jersey for everyone on the team.

C.

If he loses the bet, Thomas will have to buy a new jersey for everyone on the team.

D.

Thomas will have to buy a new jersey for everyone on the team, if he loses the bet.

The correct answer is C: If he loses the bet, Thomas will have to buy a new jersey for everyone on the team.

Explanation:

We use comma if the if clause appears at the beginning of the sentence.

A: This is not the correct answer as the period appears in the wrong position. We use the period to terminate a declarative sentence. Since this is a conditional sentence, we do not use periods to separate a conditional sentence, nor to interrupt the thought or meaning.

B: A semicolon is unnecessary; we use a semicolon to link two independent sentences and to join at least two ideas with an equal position or ranking. In this case, we are missing some information from the first part, so we cannot use a semicolon, because the first sentence is incomplete and out of sense.

D: This is not the correct answer, because we do not use a comma if the if clause appears at the end of the sentence.