Using commas

Using commas

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Further Resources
This task is about using commas.

The fish and chips, which Mum had picked up on her way home from town, tasted delicious.

 

In the sentence above, the words in between the two commas give us extra information. These words could be left out and the sentence would still make sense. In the story below there are some groups of words that give extra information. Your task is to put commas (,) around the extra information. The first pair of commas has been put in for you.

broken window.jpg
 
As soon as the bell rang Rawiri, who couldn't wait to read his new comic book, raced out the door. When he got home he found to his surprise a police car parked in the driveway. Rawiri's mother who had been out shopping had arrived home to find the bathroom window smashed and many of their belongings missing. Their house had been burgled. Rawiri couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the state of his room. His comic books which he'd left neatly stacked were scattered all over the floor. His piggy bank in which he'd put most of his pocket money had been smashed and left lying in pieces on the floor. But the worst thing of all was that his rugby ball the one signed by Beauden Barrett was gone. Rawiri sat down and cried.
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper.
Copyright: 
Pixabay  CCO Public domain
Level:
3
Curriculum info: 
English, Creating meaning, Writing
Key Competencies: 
Using language, symbols, and texts
Keywords: 
punctuation, commas, sentences
Description of task: 
Students identify phrases within sentences which provide additional information, and enclose these phrases using commas.
Curriculum Links: 
This resource can be used to help to identify students’ ability to create texts to meet the writing demands of the New Zealand Curriculum.
 

Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Writing:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • use basic punctuation correctly, attempting some complex punctuation
  • demonstrate knowledge of how language works
as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Writing at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.

 

Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Writing meaningful text: text features, set 4
within the Writing Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 

Scoring:

 

Y6 (11/2002)

2 marks
or

1 mark
(for each sentence that requires commas)

Award 2 marks for each sentence in which both commas have been correctly
inserted and in which no 'extra' commas have been incorrectly inserted.

Award 1 mark for each sentence in which one comma has been correctly
inserted and in which no 'extra' commas have been incorrectly inserted.

a)

See below

2 correct – difficult
1 correct – moderate

b)

See below

2 correct – difficult
1 correct – moderate

c)

See below

2 correct – very difficult
1 correct – moderate

d)

See below

2 correct – difficult
1 correct – moderate

e)

See below

2 correct – difficult
1 correct – difficult