English Questions. HELP!

<p><> = underlines </p>

<p>"He studied with the famed jeweler Abbot Marie for twelve <years, his="" vocation=""> was henceforth decided."</years,></p>

<p>A. NO CHANGE
B. years his vocation
C. years, then his vocation
D. years, and his vocation </p>

<p>"Living in the Swiss cantons on the FRench border, watch-making had already been developed on a large scale by refugee French families, <because> it was limited almost exclusively to inexpensive products."</because></p>

<p>A. NO CHANGE
B. but
C. even though
D. however</p>

<ul>
<li>What the heck is the difference between "however" and "but"
Is it the semi-colon thing? Is the ACT actually going to get down those little details?</li>
</ul>

<p>is it D for 1st one and B for the 2nd one?</p>

<p>first once has a comma splice -- only answer that fixes that is D</p>

<p>second one -- it has to be B i think.. no change is not it b/c "because" doesn't make sense.. even though wouldn't require a comma before it because of the complex sentence format (if that type of conjunction is in the middle of the sentence, a comma isn't needed.. at least, that's how i think of it and my english score is a 36.. i hope that's the right reasoning).. and even though wouldn't work b/c it wouldn't make sense with what is presented after it (the limited almost exclusively... etc..).... however doesn't fit grammatically because it would require a semicolon before it (two complete sentences joined by a comma does not work.. comma splice)</p>

<p>so i think it has to be B for the second one</p>

<p>so --- 1: D ... ... 2: B</p>

<p>I say 1.)D and 2.)B also reloaded</p>

<p>THANKS but can someone EXPLAIN to me the difference between "then" and "and" for the 1st problem???? For some reason, I am not convinced why "then" does not work. </p>

<p>For the second problem, why doesnst HOWEVER work!?</p>

<p>For the 1st one, it will be a fragment if u use "then" - I don't even get y u have to use "then"</p>

<p>For the 2nd one, u need a semicolon to go along w/ the however. There is a comma after families, so it either has to be one of the fanboys or an "and"</p>