Practice Creating Sentences With Commas

commas in writing
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By
Richard Nordquist
English and Rhetoric Professor
  • Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
  • M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
  • B.A., English, State University of New York
Dr. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks.
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Richard Nordquist
Updated April 15, 2019

Confused on when and where to place commas in a sentence? Almost everyone gets rusty from time to time. Here's a little exercise that can help you learn when commas are necessary or to help you dust the cobwebs off of your already acquired skills.

This sentence-imitation exercise will give you practice in applying the four guidelines for using commas correctly. 

Instructions

Use each of the four sentences below as the model for a new sentence of your own. Your new sentence should follow the guidelines in parenthesis and use the same number of commas as in the original.

Example: The younger children spent the afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese, and the others went to the ball game.
(Guideline: Use a comma before a coordinator—and, but, yet, or, nor, for, so—that links two main clauses.)

Sample sentences:

  • Vera cooked the roast beef, and Phil baked a pumpkin pie.
  • Tom ordered steak, but the waiter brought Spam.

Exercises

  1. I rang the bell and pounded on the door, but no one answered.
    (Guideline: Use a comma before a coordinator—and, but, yet, or, nor, for, so—that links two main clauses; do not use a comma before a coordinator that links two words or phrases.)
  2. I sent Elaine a basket full of apricots, mangoes, bananas, and dates.
    (Guideline: Use commas to separate words, phrases, or clauses that appear in a series of three or more.)
  3. Because the storm had knocked out the electricity, we spent the evening telling ghost stories on the porch.
    (​​Guideline: Use a comma after a phrase or clause that precedes the subject of the sentence.)
  4. Simone LeVoid, who has never voted in her life, is running for the post of county commissioner.
    (Guideline: Use a pair of commas to set off nonessential words, phrases, or clauses—also called nonrestrictive elements—that interrupt a sentence.)