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This exercise offers practice in applying the rules for using commas effectively. Before attempting the exercise, you may find it helpful to review these two pages:
In the following paragraph, insert commas wherever you think they belong. (Try reading the paragraph aloud: at least in some cases, you should be able to hear where commas are needed.) When you are done, compare your work with the correctly punctuated version of the paragraph on page two.Frederick Douglass
The son of a white man and a black slave Frederick Douglass spent his early years in slavery but escaped in 1838 and became a leading orator journalist and abolitionist. One stormy night Douglass was traveling from New York to Boston by boat. Because his African-American ancestry disqualified him from occupying a cabin or any of the public rooms he was obliged to curl up in a corner of the deck to sleep. An officer came across him there and took pity on him. Knowing that he could find Douglass a stateroom if he could pass him off as an American Indian the officer approached him with the words "You're an Indian aren't you?" Douglass immediately grasped the significance of the question. Looking the officer straight in the eyes he replied "No sir I'm a nigger" and curled up in his corner again.
When you are done, compare your work with the correctly punctuated version of the paragraph on page two.
What's Next?
- For additional practice in using commas effectively, see "The Least Successful Car."
- To learn more about Frederick Douglass, see A Glorious Resurrection, by Frederick Douglass.
