Commas

Read the following sentences with commas. The words highlighted in blue explain the rule that you will need to remember for the exam.

1. Even though Mom wouldn't let me use the car, she said she would drive me to Dan's house. (the first part of the sentence is an introductory clause, so it needs a comma after it)

2. Sam slammed on the breaks without warning, and it was a good thing I was wearing a seat belt. (This comma is optional)

3. For my birthday I asked for a bike, a skateboard, and lots of treats. (Use commas in a list)

4. Her sister, Mitsue, who was nine, put the sheets in the closet. (Use commas around appositives, or parts of a sentence that "rename" part of another sentence. "who is nine" in a sense renames "Mitsue." Also notice that if you were to take out anything in between commas, you would still have a complete sentence: Her sister put the sheets in the closet. This is still a complete sentence, which tells us that everything else needs to be set apart by commas.

5. Celeste's long, bouncy hair was a pain when it came to sports. (Use commas to separate adjectives)