Using The Comma For Children
The comma is usually the great forgotten of writing. It is difficult for children to learn the correct use of the comma. What’s more, they often use it to divide very long sentences without knowing where to place it or if it is needed.
Generally speaking, the comma is a short pause used to separate ideas within a sentence. There are some general words and rules that are always tied to this punctuation mark, and in this article you have some simple guides for children to learn how to use the comma.
Using the comma to separate information
When we read very long sentences, we need commas to organize information and breathe. If we have a text in which there are hardly any pauses, we will not understand what we have read.
Depending on the age of the children, they will make more or less complex sentences. At the beginning, they usually associate each pause with a period, but little by little they have to learn that, if there is a close relationship between the ideas, they can be joined in the same sentence. And this relationship is divided into two large branches: enumerations and relationship through connectors.
The comma in the enums
This is the simplest use of the comma that children will come across. Enums are used to name elements that have a common connection. For this reason, each element will be accompanied by a comma, except for the space between the last two.
For example: “My friend bought a backpack, a notebook, an eraser and a blue pen.” In this example we have placed the comma after each enumerated element, but the last two do not need it, so we only write the conjunction and .
It is also very easy for children to do sentence level enumerations. How many times have you asked your children what they have done at school? They must have answered something like: “Today I made two math worksheets, I played soccer at recess and I had soup and chicken rice in the dining room.” . Many, right? Without knowing it they have made a complex enumeration, because everything answers the same question.
Children, the use of commas and connectors
There are countless connectors, but we are going to focus on the basic ones that children use the most. In addition, we have classified them according to the position of the comma (in case they need it).
- Without comma: y, e, o, u and ni . In general, since children use these connectors, they will not need to add a comma to them.
- With comma just before the connector: but and so . These connectors enter a contrary idea and a result respectively, so they need a comma.
- With a comma just behind the connector: first, second…; then, later, then … That is, the connectors that organize events to tell a story or something that has happened. They are usually capitalized at the beginning of the sentence.
Common children’s mistakes with commas
Subject and predicate
The biggest mistake kids (and not so kids) make is to separate the subject from the predicate with a comma. In order not to go too deeply into this topic, we will say that the subject is the person or thing that performs the action and that the predicate is marked by the action (the verb). Let’s look at three very representative examples:
- The dog drinks water.
- My neighbor’s dog in the room drinks water from the fountain.
- The big dog that was given to my neighbor in the room drinks water from the fountain in the park in front of the hospital.
In all cases the subject is the dog and the main action is to drink . Therefore, all the words that refer to dog are also part of the subject and those that refer to drinking will be part of the predicate, so none of the phrases need commas.
Letters and cards
How many letters and cards do the children make throughout the year? For example, on mother’s, father’s, grandparents’ day… Not to mention birthday cards.
It is very common for children to express themselves by writing in these situations with a “Dear X,” . It is nothing to write home about, but the use of the comma here is not correct. What happens is that we use the comma under the influence of English when, in fact, we should use a colon.
