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Year 9 English — Punctuating complex sentences

Place the commas, semicolons and full stops that a sentence of more than one clause needs.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.Put the cards in order to make one correct sentence.

    • the shop was crowded,
    • we found
    • everything
    • on the list.
    • Although

  2. 2.Where does the comma belong? "When the results of the district competition were finally announced the whole class cheered."

    • a) after "When"
    • b) after "competition"
    • c) after "class"
    • d) after "announced"

  3. 3.Which mark joins these two closely linked sentences without any joining word? "The library was silent. Nobody had come in all afternoon."

    • a) a comma
    • b) a semicolon
    • c) a hyphen
    • d) an apostrophe

  4. 4.Sort each sentence by whether its punctuation is correct.

    Groups: Correctly punctuated · Wrongly punctuated

    • Because the road was closed, we took the long way round.
    • The gate was locked, so we climbed over the wall.
    • We waited for an hour, the train never came.
    • We waited for an hour; the train never came.
    • The gate was locked so, we climbed over the wall.
    • Because, the road was closed we took the long way round.

  5. 5.Each card holds two pieces of a sentence, split by a slash. Sort by whether a semicolon could join them.

    Groups: Yes — both halves are complete sentences · No — one half cannot stand alone

    • She opened the letter / her hands were shaking
    • She opened the letter / which had come that morning
    • The sky darkened / the birds fell silent
    • The sky darkened / because a storm was coming
    • The road was closed / after the landslide
    • The road was closed / we turned back

  6. 6.Which sentence is punctuated wrongly?

    • a) The rain stopped, the match began.
    • b) The rain stopped, and the match began.
    • c) The rain stopped. The match began.
    • d) The rain stopped; the match began.

  7. 7.Match each faulty sentence to the correction it needs.

    • It was late, we went home.
    • Although it was late we went home.
    • We went home it was late.
    • We went home, because, it was late.
    • take out both commas
    • add a comma after the opening clause
    • replace the comma with a semicolon
    • put a full stop between the two halves

  8. 8.Joining two complete sentences with nothing but a comma has a name. Write the two words for it.

Answer key — Year 9 English — Punctuating complex sentences

  1. 1. 1. Although 2. the shop was crowded, 3. we found 4. everything 5. on the list.
  2. 2. d) after "announced"
  3. 3. b) a semicolon
  4. 4. We waited for an hour; the train never came. → Correctly punctuated; We waited for an hour, the train never came. → Wrongly punctuated; Because the road was closed, we took the long way round. → Correctly punctuated; Because, the road was closed we took the long way round. → Wrongly punctuated; The gate was locked, so we climbed over the wall. → Correctly punctuated; The gate was locked so, we climbed over the wall. → Wrongly punctuated
  5. 5. The sky darkened / the birds fell silent → Yes — both halves are complete sentences; The sky darkened / because a storm was coming → No — one half cannot stand alone; She opened the letter / her hands were shaking → Yes — both halves are complete sentences; She opened the letter / which had come that morning → No — one half cannot stand alone; The road was closed / we turned back → Yes — both halves are complete sentences; The road was closed / after the landslide → No — one half cannot stand alone
  6. 6. a) The rain stopped, the match began.
  7. 7. It was late, we went home. → replace the comma with a semicolon; Although it was late we went home. → add a comma after the opening clause; We went home it was late. → put a full stop between the two halves; We went home, because, it was late. → take out both commas
  8. 8. comma splice