Instructions: Which of the following choices does the underlined portion of the next sentence represent? “The holiday dinners that my family makes are always the best meals of the year."
a. Independent Clause
b. Dependent clause
C. Prepositional Phrase
d. Run-On

That depends on which part of the sentence is underlined (unfortunately, you didn't underline anything). So, let's go through all options:

A. independent clause - an independent clause is a sentence that can stand on its own because it has a subject and a predicate; in the example above, the independent clause would be: "The holiday dinners are always the best meals of the year."

B. dependent clause - a dependent clause is a clause that cannot stand on its own because it's missing a part; this is why it is always found next to an independent clause. In the example above, the dependent clause would be: "that my family makes."

C. prepositional phrase - a prepositional phrase is a combination of a preposition and a noun/noun phrase. In the example above, the prepositional phrase is "of the year."

D. run-on - a run on sentence is a sentence that is not properly connected; since the sentence above is correct, there are no run-on sentences here.

(4) "oh, i've got better plans than that," laughed kerry. "i've got four firecrackers and two model rockets. care to join me in the backyard? "

this is the correct answer because of one simple word. "backyard"