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Lesson · Grade 5 · English Language Arts

Commas: a small pause that separates the parts of a sentence

  • Grade 5
  • English Language Arts
  • 1 min 22 s
  • British Columbia
  • BC5-EN-24

A three-sentence passage about a trip home is shown first with no commas, so the words run together and it even reads as if "we ate the bus". A box on the right gives the comma's three main jobs (in a list, after an opening part, before a joining word), then the same passage appears with each comma marked in its job's colour, every part it keeps apart lights up, and the video ends on the recap: a comma separates the parts of a sentence.

Concept: Commas

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In one sentence

The question this lesson answers

What does a comma do, and where does it belong?

Here is a short passage about a trip home, written with no commas at all.

Transcript

What the lesson says

What does a comma do, and where does it belong?

Here is a short passage about a trip home, written with no commas at all.

Without commas, the parts of a sentence run together. It even sounds like we ate the bus!

A comma is a small pause that separates the parts of a sentence. It has three main jobs.

In a list, commas separate the items.

After an opening part, a comma shows where the main part of the sentence begins.

When a joining word links two complete sentences, a comma goes before it. Four common joining words are and, but, or, so.

Here is the same passage with its commas in place.

In the first sentence, a comma separates the items in the list.

In the second sentence, a comma ends the opening part. While we ate is the opening part, and the bus drove past is the main part.

In the third sentence, the joining word so links two complete sentences, and the comma goes right before it.

Now the reader can see every part of each sentence at a glance.

A comma is a small pause that separates the parts of a sentence.

Curriculum

Where this fits

British Columbia, Grade 5

English Language Arts, Language features, structures, and conventions: conventionsBC5-EN-24

Previous: Subject-Verb Agreement: Make the Verb Match Its SubjectNext: Quotation Marks and Dialogue

British Columbia, Grade 6

English Language Arts, Language features, structures, and conventions: conventionsBC6-EN-29

Previous: Transition words: link your sentencesNext: Apostrophes: Missing Letters or Ownership, Never a Plural

British Columbia, Grade 7

English Language Arts, Language features, structures, and conventions: conventionsBC7-EN-33

Previous: Transition words: link your sentencesNext: Apostrophes: Missing Letters or Ownership, Never a Plural

This lesson is also listed in Grade 6 and Grade 7.

The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.

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