The pilgrims are traveling to canterbury because — a. the shrine of st. thomas à becket is there b. they want to escape the plague that is attacking london c. the innkeeper has dared them to make the journey d. it is part of a longer tour of england

A: the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket is there.

Explanation:

 The pilgrims (all from the three  medieval states: church, nobility, and peasantry) are traveling to Canterbury because the springtime is when they choose to go on a pilgrimage along with other travelers from different parts of England. They all have in commom to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket in order to seek help and blessing from this martyr.

a complex sentence consists of an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.  

to write complex sentences, we must use subordinating conjunctions.  

all the complex sentences begin with a subordinating conjunction and when it occurs, a comma must be place at the end of the dependent clause. on the contrary, if the sentence begins with an independent clause, then no comma is used.

after  

although  

as  

because  

before  

if  

since  

when  

for example,  

after she won the competition, she became very popular.  

although my father was hurt, he continued fighting for his rights.  

as all of you got a ten, you will be able to leave early today.  

before he went to the war, he asked his parents to bless him.  

if it is cold, i won’t go out.  

since you didn’t bring the homework, you will get low grades.  

when it is hot in the town, everyone goes to the beach.  

b is the answer.   i sat on the lumpy sofa, totally exhausted, with a bad taste in my mouth, wondering what i should do next.