During the Parent Literacy Workshop this term we discussed with parents/carers how to use commas to separate clauses in sentences. This is a skill which children need to be using independently in order to achieve levels 4 and 5 in writing. A clause is a group of words which contain a subject and a verb phrase.
We sorted various clauses into 'main' and 'subordinate' according to whether the clause made sense by itself (main) or needed to be attached to a main clause in order to make sense (subordinate).
We then varied the order in which we positioned the clauses. If the main clause was positioned before the subordinate clause then no comma was required. (Sentence punctuation would need to be considered however).
However, if the subordinate clause was positioned before the main clause then a comma was required to separate the two clauses. (You can almost hear the pause as you read the sentence aloud).
In the order below, no comma is required (but sentence punctuation needs checking).
Once again, when the subordinate clause comes first then a comma is required (plus appropriate punctuation).
We then extended this to 'comma sandwich' type sentences where we can add additional information about the subject of the sentence using commas to mark the inserted clause.
Another example:
Thank you for reading this blog and we hope that it has proved useful in continuing to help support your child's learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment