'Commas' tutor notes

The commas topic area aims to help learners revise the use of commas to separate items in a list and to mark out information in a sentence that is 'extra'.
Related topic areas on Skillswise are:
Making simple sentences
Compound sentences

How does this tie in with the curriculums?

• England
  Rs/L1.1 - Use grammatical knowledge to predict meaning and read and check for sense
  Rs/L1.2 - Use punctuation to help understanding.
  Ws/L1.1 - Understand that complete sentences should not be strung together with commas (comma splicing)
  Ws/L1.3 - Punctuate sentences correctly and use punctuation so that meaning is clear. Be clear about where not to use commas.
• Wales
  As England.
• Northern Ireland
  As England.
• Scotland
  See www.aloscotland.com for details of the Scottish curriculum.

In the Skillswise module you'll find:

Commas factsheet
The facts about commas, with examples, on one 'print-out-and-keep' sheet.

Commas game
In this Flash game learners are told that it's their first day at work. Through activities such as getting their colleagues cups of tea, they have to amend sentences deciding whether a comma or 'and' is more appropriate. They are also asked to match the right picture to the sentence, demonstrating that the meaning of a sentence can be changed by a comma.
After feedback from you we have recently updated this game. When the 'and' is erased the personal pronoun (normally the 'I') is now taken too, so that you are left with a list and not with separate proper sentences. Many thanks to everyone who pointed this out to us.

TOP TIP! To see the game completely full screen, press the F11 key on the keyboard. This takes away the distraction of the top browser bar. To bring the browser bar back, just press F11 again!

Commas activity
Unfortunately, because of copyright changes, we have had to take down the BBC Radio 4 programme 'Cutting a dash', which was all about commas. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Commas quiz
The learner can choose their level. Level A is the easiest, level C the hardest. At each level the learner has to choose the sentence that has the commas in the right place.
Students can print out a certificate if they score 50% or more in the quiz. This will appear as a link on the results page - click on the link and the certificate will appear in a new window. Once printed students can write their name on the certificate.

Commas worksheets
There are 3 worksheets in this section (plus each worksheet has a printable answer sheet). The worksheets are basically texts (a diary and two informative pieces) which the students have to add commas to.

Technical help:

To get the most out of this topic area you need the following 'plug-ins':

• Flash
  The game in this topic section uses Flash. This is free to download and should only take a few minutes. You can follow the BBC WebWise instructions to download it to your machine.
  Find out more.

If you don't have Flash the same learning points are covered in the quiz and in the worksheets and factsheets.
If you are new to the web, why not try the BBC WebWise online course, Becoming WebWise? It's free, you can do it in your own time from any computer and it will take you through everything you need to know to use the web successfully in your teaching.
Get WebWise.

You can find out more about the technical requirements for Skillswise in our Help - Technical Information section.

Taking it further:

Don't forget to visit Lesson plans and Teaching inspirations for more ideas for teaching commas.

Here's a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might find useful resources that you can adapt for teaching commas.

• Recipes
  At the BBC Food site tickle your tastebuds by browsing through the recipes. You could print out recipes with a small number of ingredients and ask learners to write a shopping list using commas.
• Film reviews
  Take a look at the latest film reviews on the BBC Films site. You could print out your favourite film reviews, create a version without the commas and ask the learners to read and amend them.
• More online exercises
  There's plenty more information about commas on this site AND 5 online exercises (all with printable versions). The background information is clear, but is aimed at university students. The exercises should be accessible to L1 / L2 learners. The whole thing is brought to you by the Owl Online Writing Lab at Purdue University in the US.
• Interview with Lynne Truss
  Lynne Truss's book about all things punctuation (especially the misplaced comma) 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' was the surprising best seller of 2003. This Guardian interview could be usefully adapted for the classroom, or try the BBC News article and punctuation quiz.

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