Harvey's Elementary Grammar and Composition · Lesson 18 · Part 1: Part I: The elementary course
17. Commas in a series
Goal: Your child separates three or more words of the same kind with commas.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and a pencil (or a slate)
What's in the book
Lesson 18 shows two or more words used as one subject, gives two rules for the comma, and has words to arrange into sentences and blanks to fill.
The lesson, step by step
Review
Ask your child to correct "I seen it" and "You was late."
Several subjects
Look at the book's example: John and Silas went to town. Then John, Silas, and Ezra.
SayWhen we list three or more, commas separate them.
The rules
Read:
Three or more words of the same kind, or rank, used together, should be separated by commas.
The book's second rule says two such words joined together are not usually separated by commas.
Oral practice
Ask your child to list three fruits, three colors and three friends in a sentence, saying "comma" at each comma.
Arrange the words
Make sentences from the book's word groups, with commas:
Houses, mills, build, and, bridges, mechanics.
Metals, gold, are, silver, precious, and.
Mary, Susan, cousins, are, Ada, and.
Then fill some blanks on the page, such as:
A merchant sells
Check together
Check commas and capitals, especially for names of people and cities.
Use it today
Find a list in today's reading and count the commas.
Tip
Harvey puts a comma before "and" in a list (Mary, Susan, and Ada). Many writers still do this.
Answers to the book's problems
Mechanics build houses, mills, and bridges. Farmers raise maize, wheat, corn, and barley (or similar). Oranges, lemons, and pine-apples grow in the West Indies. Gold and silver are precious metals. Mary, Susan, and Ada are cousins. New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco are large cities. Blanks: answers will vary.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.