Identify the error in this sentence: The jury deliberated for several hours the crowd waited impatiently for the verdict.

The selected answer is correct because the sentence in question is an example of a run-on sentence, which occurs when two or more independent clauses are joined without appropriate punctuation or conjunctions. In this case, the two independent clauses "The jury deliberated for several hours" and "the crowd waited impatiently for the verdict" are combined without any punctuation or coordinating conjunction.

To correct this run-on sentence, one could use a period or a semicolon to separate the clauses: "The jury deliberated for several hours. The crowd waited impatiently for the verdict." Alternatively, a coordinating conjunction can be used, such as: "The jury deliberated for several hours, and the crowd waited impatiently for the verdict." This proper punctuation helps to clarify the relationship between the two actions being described, making the sentence grammatically correct and easier to read.