Skip to main content

Answer : Commas with Nonessential Elements Exercise 3

OWL logo

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.



Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.


The following sentences have essential and nonessential words, phrases, and clauses in them with the necessary punctuation added. (You may have different punctuation for some of these if your meaning for the sentence differs from the way the sentence is punctuated.)

1. The girl who teaches swimming at the neighborhood pool has a great deal of patience. (correct)

2. The girl, who enjoyed teaching swimming, decided to major in physical education at college.

3. The high school course that was most valuable to me was typing. (correct)

4. Maria, wearing an original dress of her own design, was the center of attention.

5. Dogsled mushing, which has been his favorite sport for years, requires a lot of effort.

6. Dauphin Island, located off the coast of Alabama, is a favorite spot for fishermen.

7. He saw his favorite movie, Star Wars , eight times.

8. Two of her friends, Kate and Beth, are planning to share an apartment with her next summer.

9. Citizen Kane , considered by many critics to be the greatest American film ever made, won only one Academy Award.

10. The officer who made the arrest had been investigated previously for excessive use of force. (correct)

Back to Questions