English Language Arts Grade 3 15 min

Commas with the names of places

Commas with the names of places

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Introduction & Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives Correctly place a comma between a city and a state. Correctly place a comma between a city and a country. Identify the city and state within a sentence. Use a second comma after the state name when it appears in the middle of a sentence. Write original sentences using commas correctly with place names. Edit sentences to fix missing or incorrect commas in place names. Have you ever written a letter to someone far away? 💌 Where did they live? Today, we are going to learn how to use a special punctuation mark, the comma, to write about places. Using commas correctly helps make our writing clear so everyone knows exactly where we are talking about. It's an important rule for being a great writer! Real-World Applications Writing your address on an e...
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Key Concepts & Vocabulary

TermDefinitionExample CommaA punctuation mark (,) that signals a short pause in a sentence. It helps separate words or ideas.We need milk, bread, and eggs. Place NameThe specific name of a location.New York City or California CityA large town where many people live and work.The city I want to visit is San Diego. StateOne of the 50 parts that make up the United States.My grandparents live in the state of Florida. CountryA large area of land with its own people and government.The Eiffel Tower is in the country of France.
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Key Rules & Conventions

The City, State Rule City, State Always place a comma between the name of a city and the name of a state. This separates the smaller place (the city) from the larger place (the state). The Two-Comma Rule City, State, rest of the sentence. If the city and state are in the middle of a sentence, you need a second comma after the state. This separates the place name from the rest of the sentence. The City, Country Rule City, Country Just like with states, you should always place a comma between the name of a city and the name of a country.

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Sample Practice Questions

Challenging
A travel brochure has this sentence: 'Our trip to beautiful Honolulu Hawaii will be a memory you cherish.' What is the most accurate way to correct the punctuation?
A.Add one comma between 'Honolulu' and 'Hawaii'.
B.Add one comma after 'Hawaii'.
C.Add a comma after 'Honolulu' and another comma after 'Hawaii'.
D.Add a comma after 'beautiful' and another after 'Hawaii'.
Challenging
Read the short paragraph. Which sentence contains a comma error related to a place name? (1) My family is from all over the country. (2) My mom grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. (3) My dad is from a small town in Ohio. (4) They met in Chicago Illinois, when they were in college.
A.Sentence 1
B.Sentence 2
C.Sentence 3
D.Sentence 4
Challenging
The rule is: 'Use a comma after the state or country if the sentence continues.' Which sentence is an incorrect example of this rule?
A.We learned that Lincoln, Nebraska, is the state capital.
B.Is it true that Sydney, Australia, has a famous opera house?
C.I read a book set in Jackson, Mississippi and it was great.
D.The flight to Tokyo, Japan, was very long.

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