Usage of coma

I. In the following sentences, insert any commas needed with dates, place names, addresses, and large numbers.

1. The earthquake of October 9, 1871 whose epicenter was near Wilmington Delaware delivered what for this area was the most intense earth shock in historical times. -John McPhee

2. I was in New Orleans when Louisiana seceded from the Union, January 26 1861 and I started north the next day. -Mark Twain

3. She lost her father, William Thomas Bishop, eight months after her birth on February 8, 1911 in Worcester Massachusetts. -Robert Giroux on Elizabeth Bishop

4. On the morning of June 5, 1962 the Queen Elizabeth brought my wife and me from Cherbourg to New York for the film premiere of Lolita. -Vladimir Nabokov

5. Miss Davis was born on April 2 1908 in Lowell Massachusetts in a gray clapboard house built on Chester Street by her grandfather Favor, who was descended from fighting Huguenots and was himself a belligerent abolitionist. -Janet Planner on Bette Davis

6. The new assembly plant cost $7 525 000 by the time it was completed.

II. In the following sentences, underline the coordinating conjunctions and insert a comma in the right place.

1. Children have never been very good at listening to their elders but they have never failed to imitate them. -James Baldwin

2. I was now twelve years old and the thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily on my heart. — Frederick Douglass

3. The Closerie des Lilas was the nearest good cafe when we lived in the flat over the sawmill at 113 rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs and it was one of the best cafes in Paris. -Ernest Hemingway

4. One might argue that Carpenter had mishandled the re-entry but to accuse him of panic made no sense in light of the telemetered data concerning his heart rate and his respiratory rate. -Tom Wolfe

5. People put up with less rockiness in a marriage now and the opportunity to dissolve a bad marriage in a rather easy fashion tips plenty of marriages that are not nearly all that bad into court. -Edward Hoagland

III. Identify the errors in the sentences that follow. Any sentence that is incorrect contains no more than one error.

1. "Answer only the first five questions," he said, "The testing time is extremely limited."

2. We will leave for Japan immediately, therefore, we will complete that project in the fall.

3. "The next chapter is easy," said the teacher, "The main ideas are clearly marked."

4. Our friend from Oregon visited our family recently; however, he left early, for he wanted to travel throughout New England.

5. "The nine o'clock class has been cancelled," said the teacher. "It has been rescheduled for a later time."

6. "Why are you crying?" she asked, "Are you lost?"

7. No one expected her to become a numismatist, she had never been interested in coins.

8. When you finish your homework, please read that novel, it is a science fiction story with a horrifying ending.

9. The children, who were playing innocently in the park, saw the accident, however, they were too frightened to relate the details of the mishap.

10. George arrived in New Jersey on Tuesday, therefore, he visited his cousins in Passaic.

11. The plane left Boston on schedule, it arrived in New York very late because of a snow storm.

12. "Please open the door," she cried, "I cannot walk a step farther tonight."

13. She left early; however, she arrived late.