Comma Rules Scavenger Hunt

Send your students on a sentence stalking expedition with this scavenger hunt for correct comma usage. More than grammar worksheets, this engaging activity for middle and high school will require students to find examples of the comma rules used in sentences in books, websites, or other texts and to cite the sources.

Product Features

• Concise comma usage guidelines with clear example sentences
• Easy to use with any text or variety of text sources
• Black and white print-and-go PDF handouts
• Punctuation "rules" based on style guidelines from MLA 8 and Strunk and White's The Elements of Style

Contents

(1) Resource overview

(2) Commas in series; Places and addresses

(3) Commas in dates; Titles or degrees after names; Interjections; Commas with coordinate adjectives

(4) Adverbs (transitional adverbs and "too"); Contrast or contradiction; Commas in quotations and dialogue

(5) Nouns of direct address; Commas with introductory phrases; Commas in compound sentences; Dependent clauses in complex sentences

(6) Nonessential phrases and clauses or parenthetical expressions; To prevent confusion; Bonus--Find and correct a comma error

(7) Rubric

(8) Terms of use

Teacher Prep

No prep! Print one copy per student of pages 2-6. For the half-page rubric, print one copy of page 7 per every two students and cut the pages horizontally with a paper slicer.

How to Use this Comma Rules Scavenger Hunt Activity

During class activity

Make this a fun in-class activity by providing an assortment of texts for students to browse as they look for examples. Besides novels from your bookshelves, you can also share magazines, newspapers, and picture books. Have a few computers accessible. You can prevent students Googling the comma rules by limiting them to websites such as NewsELA.com or ReadWorks.org. Keep students focused by rotating through stations with different types of texts.

Homework assignment

You can also send the scavenger hunt as a homework assignment and allow students 3-4 days to collect examples from texts around their homes. You could even make this a competition among teams or classes.

Related Resources

Get the most out of this lesson by using it with my Comma Rules Slideshow Presentation, Comma Rules Interactive Notebook Flipbook, and Comma Rules Poster Set that align perfectly with this fun activity.

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