South Dakota ELA 7.L.2.b
The Standard
- 7.L.2
- Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Use commas and semicolons appropriately in compound and complex sentence structure.
South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use commas to separate clauses in longer sentences. They use semicolons to join two complete thoughts without a joining word.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student places a comma after an opening clause and before a joining word such as but or so. They can use a semicolon between two complete thoughts and explain why a comma alone would not work.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often join two complete thoughts with only a comma. They may put a semicolon before because, or add a comma between a subject and its verb.
How to Assess It
- Ask students to add commas or semicolons where needed: 'When the bell rang we left.' 'The bell rang we left.' 'The bell rang and we left.' Have them explain one choice.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give students clause strips reading 'Although it rained,' 'we played,' and 'the field was muddy'; have them arrange and punctuate two sentences.
Write 'I finished my draft, I read it aloud' on the board; ask which two punctuation fixes work and why.
Give pairs six sentence cards with missing commas or comma splices; award points for each correct fix and explanation.
Project 'The bus leaves at 3:15, arrive early'; have students edit it for the school announcement board.
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Printable 7.L.2.b Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 2.L.2.c
Use commas in greetings and closings of letters. Use commas to separate single words in a series. Use commas in compound sentences.
- 5.L.2.a
Use commas to separate phrases and clauses in a series.
- 3.L.2.c
Use commas in greetings and closings of letters, in addresses, to separate single words in a series and in compound sentences.
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