Review: Commas

Part I: Put commas where they belong. Note: A few of these sentences do not need commas.

1. They are having peas and carrots roast beef and cake for dinner.
2. Mr. Johnson my Spanish teacher says we have to learn how to use commas.
3. He says “Remember Doug use commas before and after you address someone directly.”
4. Randy said “Did you do the homework Angie?”
5. The teachers at Jefferson Academy work hard to teach the students.
6. Michelle painted the fence white blue and green.
7. We waited at the bus stop on Bedminister Park Avenue after church.
8. My father who is a doctor cares for the sick injured and disabled
9. One famous baseball player Barry Bonds won seven MVP awards.
10. “Don’t come there” said Terry.
11. Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish writer of novels poems and essays.
12. Now Mr. Bond we will saw you in half.
13. Johnny said “Stop talking to me Jose.”
14. Chicago the largest city in the Midwest is the home of the skyscraper blues and deep-dish pizza.
15. No Ted I don’t want to go with Rodrigo.
16. Adam said “But they keep picking on me Seti.”
17. Maryam my next-door neighbor has two daughters a stepson and a kitten.
18. That Thursday which also happens to be my birthday is the only day we can take the test.
19. Bobby who often cheats on his homework is really only harming himself.
20. Peyton Manning the quarterback for the team is having a bad year.

Part II: On a piece of paper, write three sentences for each of the following tasks:
1. Use commas to set of an interruption in the flow of the sentence.
2. Use commas before and/or after directly addressing someone.
3. Use commas to separate three or more items in a series.
4. Use commas before or after a quotation.

Part III: The Mystery of Easter Island – Put commas and periods where they belong. (Sentences from A Short History of Progress, by Ronald Wright)

1. The greatest wonder of the ancient world is how recent it all is for no city or monument is much more than 5000 years old
2. Even today some believe that the wonders of the ancient world were built by Atlanteans gods or space travelers instead of by thousands toiling in the sun
3. The great mystery of Easter Island that struck all early visitors was not just that these colossal statues stood in such a tiny and remote corner of the world but that the stones seemed to have been set down from the sky
4. We now know the answer to the riddle and it is a chilling one
5. No natural disaster eruption drought or disease had ravaged Easter Island the catastrophe was man
6. Like Polynesians on some other islands each clan began to honor its ancestry with impressive stone images
7. As time went on the statue building became increasingly rivalrous and extravagant
8. Each generation of images grew bigger than the last and required more timber rope and manpower
9. Trees were cut faster than they could grow and the settler’s rats ate the tree seeds and saplings
10. For a generation or so there was enough old lumber to keep a few canoes sea worthy
11. Wars broke out over ancient planks and worm eaten bits of driftwood they ate all their dogs
12. If there was no wood then there could be no statues no boats no seafood and no escape

adapted from Ereading Worksheets