Comma Usage

​Commas!

Multiple Choice

Warm Up:

Which of the following sentences requires a comma?

• The students whose names are on this roster will all receive new lunch cards.

• We will call someone in your household as soon as an appointment becomes available.

• The student who joined the team most recently is the one who will be cut first.

• All of these.

• None of these.

The Correct answer was NONE OF THESE!

​There are hard and fast rules for comma usage.

Some of you have been taught that you place a comma where ever you would naturally pause in a sentence, and that is not, strictly speaking, true. We often pause after the verb when we speak, but you almost never place a comma there in your writing.

​Comma Rules:

• Today we will focus on a few basic rules:

• Coordinating Conjunctions

• Introductory Phrases (Adverbial Clauses)

• Sentence interrupters (appositive phrases and non-restrictive clauses)
  
  
  

Coordinating Conjunctions:

Place a comma before the conjunction when combining two complete thoughts:

I have to drive to the park to pick up my little brother, so I will study for my biology test later.

Drag and Drop

Place the option that punctuates the sentence correctly:

Millie threw a fit​

Placeholder

Margot cried all night.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

,

and

but

, neither

, and

​Introductory Phrases and Adverbial Clauses

An adverb tells when, where, how, or to what an extent something is being done.

An adverbial clause serves the same purpose, but is a group of words instead of just one.

When you start a sentence with an adverbial, you put a comma after it.

​Introductory Phrases and Adverbial Clauses

Before the game, we will all go out to eat.

The phrase before the game is an adverbial because it tells when the subjects will eat.

*only place commas after adverbials and introductory Phrases when they come at the beginning of a sentence (hence the name "introductory")

Multiple Choice

Which sentence correctly places a comma after an adverbial?

• At the concession stand I bought, all my friends snacks.

• In the morning, I always eat a lot of protein to get me through the day.

• Once we get home I will read, the homework.

• After the game I watched the game tape footage.

A clause that provides additional information that is not necessary to understand the sentence.

​Non-Restrictive Clauses

A phrase that provides more information about the noun that came before it.

​Appositive Phrases

Sentence Interrupters:
There are two types of interrupters that we place commas around:

Sentence Interrupters:

Both types of interrupters are kind of like the whisper in the sentence: it is non-essential information.

You put commas around the whisper.

My brother, who loves to work on cars, drove in a Lemons race this summer.

Neal, my older brother, loves to drive really fast.

Both sentences make complete sense without the interrupter, so you place commas around it.

Multiple Choice

Which sentence has commas placed correctly?

• Al and Tim, who knew a lot about home improvement fixed the dishwasher.

• Jill, never leaves home, without her purse.

• Zachary, the oldest in the family, drove his brothers to school.

• The very mysterious neighbor Wilson, was never seen fully.