Commas with Nonessential Elements: Exercise Answers

Brought to you by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/.

A. Are there any nonessential words, phrases, or clauses in the following sentences? If so, underline them and change the punctuation as appropriate.

1. Patterson Tower, the recently completed office building, is a monument to concrete ugliness.

2. The movie that I wanted to see is no longer playing.

3. Each person who enters the contest must send in two box tops.

4. John decided, nonetheless, not to buy the car.

5. The Mississippi River, which once flowed north into Hudson Bay, flows south into the Gulf of Mexico.

6. Your cat, watching the dog intently, walked carefully away.

7. The cat that was watching the dog most intently walked carefully away.

8. TV commercials, sometimes the most entertaining parts of a program, are essentially flashy corporate propaganda.

9. The dam project, which many in the government consider to be a sign of national strength, will destroy hundreds of villages and vast areas of wildlife habitat along the river banks.

10. The free-jazz musician Sun Ra claimed to be from Saturn.

You can go on to do Exercise #2 at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_commaessEX2.html or return to the handout on Commas with Essential and Non-Essentials at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_commaess.html to review any rules you want to reread.

The following information must remain intact on every handout printed for distribution.

This page is located at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_commaessA1.html.

Copyright ©1995-2004 by OWL at Purdue University and Purdue University. All rights reserved.
Use of this site, including printing and distributing our handouts, constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use, available at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/lab/fairuse.html.

To contact OWL, please visit our contact information page at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/lab/contact.html to find the right person to call or email.