Commas

The question reads: “Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?” Every punctuation question uses that wording, so the choices show you what’s being tested. On a comma question they keep the same words and move a comma, drop it, or pair it with “and,” “but,” or “so.” Often one choice has no mark at all.

If the commas move around a name after a job title, such as “cabinetmaker,” the question is whether you need the name to know who.

Read the sentence with nothing in the blank first. That version is a real option, and a comma has to have a job to beat it. Then run the same test Sentence boundaries uses for every mark:

“The recordings the technicians salvaged from the flooded store ______ filled four reels.”

1. Look back toward the start of the sentence. If a comma, dashA long mark used alone before an explanation or in pairs around an added detail., or parenthesis opened some extra words, the blank may close them with the same mark. Nothing opens here.
2. Read the words before the blank as if the sentence stopped there: “The recordings the technicians salvaged from the flooded store.” That can’t stand alone. It never says what the recordings did.
3. Read the words after the blank as if a new sentence started there: “Filled four reels.” That can’t stand alone either, since it doesn’t say what filled them.
4. Match what you found:
   • If both sides could, use a comma plus “and,” “but,” or “so,” or a period or semicolonThe mark ; which joins two complete sentences.. A comma alone is wrong, and so is no mark.
   • If the left side could and the right side explains or lists, use a colonThe mark : which follows a complete sentence and introduces what comes next. or one dash.
   • If the left side could and the right side is extra words that describe or comment on it, use a comma.
   • If the left side is only opening words, use a comma.
   • If the blank sits in a list of three or more things, use a comma, or a semicolon when the things already contain commas.
   • If the blank splits words that belong together, such as a subjectThe who or what a sentence is about. In “The vault held papers,” it’s the vault. and its verbA word for what something does or is, such as carry or seem., use no mark.

Here the blank splits “recordings” from its verb, “filled,” so it takes no mark. A comma feels natural there because you’d pause after so many words, but a pause isn’t one of the jobs in step 4.

Add one comma earlier and the answer changes: “The recordings, which the technicians salvaged from the flooded store ______ filled four reels.” Step 1 now finds the comma after “recordings.” It opened extra words, so the blank closes them with a second comma.

When both sides could stand alone, a comma joins them only with one of the seven joining words right after it: “and,” “but,” “or,” “so,” “yet,” “for,” “nor.” Some teachers call them FANBOYS.

If two choices both look right, compare them mark by mark. Only one can be the answer, so one of them hides a second change, such as a comma after “and.”

Cover everything up to “and” and read the rest: “then examines its edges.” It never says who examines. A word like “then” or “later” can make it sound like a fresh start, but it only says when. “Will” in “and will examine its edges” doesn’t help either, since it’s part of the verb.

Long pairs work the same way. In “The team checked whether the door closed and whether the latch held,” both “whether” parts say what the team checked, so no comma goes before “and.”

With three or more things, put a comma after each one but the last.

Openings come in several shapes, and each one ends at the comma:

• “Although the room was cold, the crew kept working.”
• “Carrying a lantern, Vera entered the room.”
• “To inspect the latch, Vera opened the door.”
• “However, the door stayed shut.”

“Although” is a waiting word, like “because” or “until.” It leaves you waiting for the rest, so the words it starts can’t stand alone.

Move the waiting words after the full sentence and the comma usually goes away:

Words that set up a contrast are the exception. “Although,” “though,” “whereas,” and “while” in the sense of “whereas” keep their comma after the full sentence too: “The flutes look identical, although their measurements differ.”

Cross out “the number of flower visits” and you still have a full sentence with the same point: “The observers’ main measure revealed greater activity.” That’s how you know the words are extra. Grammar books call them nonessentialA part you could cut and still have a complete sentence that makes sense, so it gets a mark on each side, such as two commas.. Since “the number of flower visits” renames the nounA word for a person, place, thing, or idea, like harbor or silence. just before it, it’s also an appositiveA noun phrase that renames the one right before it. In “Mr. Diaz, a retired pilot, spoke first,” it’s a retired pilot..

That second comma is easy to miss when the extra words come between the subject and its verb, since “the number of flower visits” lands right before “revealed” and sounds like the subject. Read “measure” straight into “revealed” to hear the real sentence.

Extra words can also come after a full sentence. Then one comma sets them off, and the period closes them.

“A practical advantage for record keeping” sums up what the sentence said. It has no verb, so it can’t be a second sentence.

When the words at the end name something set up earlier, use a colon: “One change cut the trip in half: a bridge across the river.” The bridge is the change. With a comma, “a bridge across the river” would seem to rename “half,” the word right before it.

Some words look extra but tell you which person or thing the sentence means. Those stay attached, with no commas. Cross out a name after a job title and see whether the sentence still says who:

It goes the other way in two cases. When the words before the name already point to one person, the name is extra: “The museum’s only cabinetmaker, Teodora Nunez, inspected the hinges.” And when the name comes first, the title is extra: “Teodora Nunez, a cabinetmaker, inspected the hinges.”

A comma before “which” marks extra words instead. “The crew replaced the roof tiles, which had cracked in the frost” says the crew replaced all the tiles and adds that they had cracked.

A subject that starts with an “-ing” word or with “whether” can sound like opening words. Find the verb and ask what does it. In “Whether the latch holds determines the next step,” what determines the next step? Whether the latch holds. That whole stretch is the subject, so no comma goes before “determines.”

Other words that belong together work the same way:

• A verb and what it acts on: “Makers added guards to protect delicate crystals.”
• A word like “beneath” and its noun: “The crew placed the crates beneath the platform.”
• A noun and the words that complete it: “Their decision to postpone the trial allowed more preparation.”

No comma goes after “protect,” “beneath,” or “decision.”

When none of the commas in the choices has a job, the choice with no mark is right, even though the others look more careful.

Work the three examples, then try five more. Their explanations use grammar names. An independent clauseA clause that could stand on its own as a sentence. “The road reopened” is one.Read the lesson is a full sentence, and a coordinating conjunctionOne of the seven joining words that can link two whole sentences: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so.Read the lesson is one of the seven joining words.