What if a sentence has an essential clause and an extra one?

Punctuate each one on its own terms. The trail that leads to the falls, a steep climb of almost two miles, closes after the first snow. That leads to the falls tells you which trail, so it stays open. The appositive only adds a fact, so it gets the commas.

Can a clause after a name ever be essential?

Almost never. A name already points at one person or place, so anything that follows it is extra. Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery in 1849, went back again and again. The who clause needs commas because the name has already done the identifying.

Why do the answers always have exactly two commas?

Each sentence has one extra element in the middle, and the instruction says so. Anything else in the sentence is essential and takes no commas, so the student has to decide which part gets them.

8th grade commas for extra detail

8th grade commas for extra detail worksheets

At eighth grade the extra element is longer and often shares the sentence with an essential one. In the runner who crossed the line first, a seventh grader from Tulsa, broke the record, the who clause says which runner and takes no commas, while the appositive is extra and takes two. Eighth graders sort the two and write in only the commas that belong.

Free printable PDF worksheet.

Each print is a different sheet with its own answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of sentences you'll fix

Add the two missing commas to each sentence, one on each side of the extra information.

The sample that we left in the window a dish of ordinary bread mold grew twice as fast as the control.
Fixed: The sample that we left in the window, a dish of ordinary bread mold, grew twice as fast as the control.
The trail that leads to the falls a steep climb of almost two miles closes after the first snow.
The app that the club built for the food drive a simple tracker for donated cans logged four thousand items.

Every print pulls a new set of sentences at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling gets a different mix.

What's on an 8th grade sheet

8th grade sheets draw from 52 sentences, 7 to a page. None of these sentences are on 7th grade sheets. 7th grade sheets print 8 to a page.

A few of the sentences, as the answer key corrects them:

Room 114, where the yearbook staff works through most lunches, smells permanently of toner.
Our drama teacher, a former stage manager for touring shows, runs every rehearsal from a clipboard.
Fatima, who taught herself to code from library books, now teaches the Saturday class for beginners.

Fix it. Add the two missing commas to each sentence, one on each side of the extra information. 7 sentences to fix per page.

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

Have students bracket every clause and phrase that sits after a noun before they write a single comma. Then run the lift-out test on each bracket separately. The one that says which person or thing stays unmarked. The one that only adds a fact gets a comma on each side. The usual eighth grade mistake is fencing off both, so read the sentence aloud with the essential clause removed and ask whether you still know who is meant. If you don't, that clause has to stay open.

Watch for: The lift-out test asks about meaning, not just grammar. Take the phrase out: if you still know exactly who or what the sentence means, the phrase is extra and takes commas on BOTH sides. One comma is a door left open. If taking it out changes who is meant, it stays with no commas. Essential information takes no commas at all: in 'the student who won gets a medal,' dropping who won still leaves a sentence, but now it could mean any student. That clause says which one, so it stays open. This page drills the extra kind, where the commas belong.

Common questions about 8th grade commas for extra detail

What if a sentence has an essential clause and an extra one?: Punctuate each one on its own terms. The trail that leads to the falls, a steep climb of almost two miles, closes after the first snow. That leads to the falls tells you which trail, so it stays open. The appositive only adds a fact, so it gets the commas.
Can a clause after a name ever be essential?: Almost never. A name already points at one person or place, so anything that follows it is extra. Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery in 1849, went back again and again. The who clause needs commas because the name has already done the identifying.
Why do the answers always have exactly two commas?: Each sentence has one extra element in the middle, and the instruction says so. Anything else in the sentence is essential and takes no commas, so the student has to decide which part gets them.

8th grade commas for extra detail worksheets

The kind of sentences you'll fix

What's on an 8th grade sheet

How to teach this

Common questions about 8th grade commas for extra detail

Related worksheets

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