Teaching page · Grade 3 · Lesson 24

Sentences with a comma

When a sentence opens with a phrase, a comma marks where that part stops.

What it is

A comma tells your reader to pause without stopping. In dictation you can hear it: the voice dips and waits, but the sentence keeps going. The two places you will meet it most are after a phrase at the front, and between items in a list.

Watch it built

1
Listen for the pause that is not a stop.
After the storm, the river rose.
2
Write up to the pause. That front phrase is what the comma follows.
After the storm
3
Put the comma in, then finish the sentence.
After the storm, the river rose.

One more

We took bread, dates, and water.
↓
A comma between each item in the list.
Remember
Pause but not stop — that is a comma, not a period.
Ask yourself: “Where does the opening part end?”

Remember

The comma shows where the opening part ends.

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