ASES Comma Rules Review

Comma Rules

100

Is the following grammatically correct? If no, why not? "The following are things that I love. Debra's home-made biscuits, Molly's fried milk, and Carlos's grilled asparagus."

Nope. With the period after "love," the items in the list constitute a sentence fragment.

200

Is the following grammatically correct? If no, why not? "What do you think of my new shoes Mark?"

Nope. It should be, "What do you think of my new shoes, Mark?"

300

Is this statement correct? If not, what needs correcting? The six hungry students bothered Mr. Beard for donuts.

It is correct as is. Six is an adjective modifying the number of students, and hungry modifies their appetites.

400

Is the following grammatically correct? If no, why not? "The following are things that I love; Debra's home-made biscuits, Molly's fried milk, and Carlos's grilled asparagus."

Nope. The semicolon should be a colon.

500

Is the following grammatically correct? If no, why not? "My dad, Don Danny Dinglehopper, is a pretty cool guy, a fantastic bear-wrestler and has a beautiful singing voice Lawrence."

It should be, "My dad, Don Danny Dinglehopper, is a pretty cool guy, a fantastic bear-wrestler, and has a beautiful singing voice, Lawrence."

Various Comma Rules

100

DAILY TRIPLE!!!: Is the following grammatically correct? If no, why not? "Bill, Dharma, and Florence decided to meet up on May 32 2014, at 11:45."

No. There needs to be a comma after "32," and the comma after "2014" needs to be removed.

200

Is the following grammatically correct? If no, why not? "Marcia decided to visit Mt. Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota and The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri."

Yes.

300

DAILY DOUBLE: Is the following grammatically correct? If no, why not? "Yes Mom, I have done my homework."

Nope. It should be "Yes, Mom, I have done my homework."

400

Is the following grammatically correct? If no, why not? "Are you hungry Stanley?"

It should be "Are you hungry, Stanley?"

500

Is the following grammatically correct? If no, why not? "Well I guess I can let you borrow my pencil, pen, and notebook paper."

Goodness, no. It should read, "Well, I guess I can let you borrow my pencil, pen, and notebook paper.

Assorted Comma Rules

100

Is this statement correct? If not, what needs correcting? "Happy Birthday, Shelly".

Nope. The period needs to be inside the quotation marks.

200

Is this statement correct? If not, what needs correcting? Please Dale, turn on the gleaming bright light.

"Dale" needs to be set apart completely by commas; add one before his name. "Gleaming" and "bright" both modify the amount of light being produced. Separate them with a comma.

300

Is this statement correct? If not, what needs correcting? "Have you ever been to Seattle Washington," asked George.

There needs to be a comma between "Seattle" and "Washington," and the comma after Washington needs to be a question mark.

400

Is this statement correct? If not, what needs correcting? My sister's school Kelly High School, celebrates graduation this month May.

"Kelly High School" is an appositive and needs commas on either side. "May" is an appositive as well, so there needs to be a comma before it.

500

Is this statement correct? If not, what needs correcting? "Why are you here Maurice," asked Dale. He continued "I didn't invite you."

Uh-uh. It should be "Why are you here, Maurice?" asked Dale. He continued, "I didn't invite you."

Comma Rules, Etc.

100

Is this statement correct? If not, what needs correcting? I am from Beaumont Texas.

Add a comma between the name of a city and the name of a state.

200

DAILY DOUBLE: What are the two ways to punctuate the greeting of a letter, and why would you choose one over the other?

Casual letters use a comma after the greeting, and business/more formal letters use a colon.

300

Is this statement correct? If not, what needs correcting? "Yes, Maddie, I am aware that I have yet to give Scholar Dollars to the feast t-shirt winners."

This is correct as is. The name of a person being spoken to should be fully set apart from the rest of the sentence with commas.

400

Is this statement correct? If not, what needs correcting? "Even though the butler brought us the tray of blueberry pancakes I had to fire him immediately."

When a long subordinate clause precedes an independent clause, it must be followed by a comma, like so: "Even though the butler brought us the tray of blueberry pancakes, I had to fire him immediately."

500

Is this statement correct? If not, what needs correcting? "I love my fishy, Bubbles, my kitty, Furball, and my hippopotamus, Horace."

Not a chance. It should be "I love my fishy, Bubbles; my kitty, Furball; and my hippopotamus, Horace."

Subjects/Predicates

100

What is the simple subject or subjects in the following sentence? "Clementine and Tony read, studied, and quizzed each other over the material for the comma test."

"Clementine" and "Tony"

200

What is the complete predicate or predicates in the following sentence? "Here is the list of ingredients required for the casserole."

"Here is"

300

What is the simple predicate or predicates in the following sentence? "Clementine and Tony read, studied, and quizzed each other over the material for the comma test."

"read" "studied" "quizzed"

400

What is the simple subject or subjects in the following sentence? "Some of the questions on the test were difficult."

"Some"

500

What is the simple predicate or predicates in the following sentence? "Here is the list of ingredients required for the casserole."

"is"