Use the drop-down menu to complete the sentence.(1 point)

By the end of the Shang dynasty, the Chinese had developed a form of writing in which each character represented a 

word or an idea.

By the end of the Shang dynasty, the Chinese had developed a form of writing in which each character represented a concept or idea.

To answer this question, let's take a look at the options in the drop-down menu. It seems like the options will provide us with the missing word in the sentence. Let's analyze each option to see which one fits best.

Option 1: "word." This option suggests that each character represents a word. However, this doesn't seem accurate because Chinese characters often represent more than just a single word.

Option 2: "phrase." This option suggests that each character represents a phrase. While some Chinese characters can indeed represent phrases, it's not a defining characteristic of Chinese writing.

Option 3: "syllable." This option suggests that each character represents a syllable. This is a more accurate representation of how Chinese characters work. Each character usually represents a syllable, which is a unit of pronunciation in a word.

Given this analysis, the correct answer is "syllable." So, by the end of the Shang dynasty, the Chinese had developed a form of writing in which each character represented a syllable.