Name: _______________________
Trisha, the littlest girl in the family, grew up loving books.
--From Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
The social worker, Mrs. MacAvoy, pulls out of the hospital parking lot while I
play with the electric-lock button on her car door.
---From One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
I wonder if, in my whole life, I could ever be someone’s hero.
---From One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
But my shirt, the rainbow plaid, hung separately on a wooden hanger toward
the back of the display.
--From Crow Call by Lois Lowry
What do you notice about the way that the comma was used in these
sentences?
Name: __________________
Grammar Homework Due Friday
Using Commas for Interrupters
In the sentences we have looked at, you will find a group of words with
commas surrounding the group. These sentences show us:
When a group of words interrupts a sentence, it needs to have commas on
both sides. Use two commas to set off information that is not ESSENTIAL
to the sentence (in other words, information that could be left out of the
sentence).
Interrupters, add information to a sentence. This allows the writer to add
more information into a sentence to give the reader more details about the
object or person being described.
Look at the following sentence:
I even coaxed Rowdy, my bluetick hound, into helping me with this monkey
trouble.
Now look at the sentence without the group of words inside the commas:
I even coaxed Rowdy
trouble.
, my bluetick hound,
into helping me with this monkey
Notice that the sentence is still a complete sentence even without the group
of words inside the commas. That is how you know that this sentence has an
INTERRUPTER.
Great! Now we are going to look through texts to find THREE sentences that
are examples of where authors have used interrupters. Hint: First look for
sentences that have a group of words surrounded by two commas. Then try
reading the sentences without those words and make sure it still says what
it has to say. Good luck!
Text
Sentence that includes an INTERRUPTER: