5.11.D.x
The Standard
punctuation marks, including commas in compound and complex sentences, quotation marks in dialogue, and italics and underlining for titles and emphasis
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading · The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students edit their drafts for title formatting, emphasis, dialogue punctuation, and comma use. They choose italics when typing and underlining when writing by hand. They place commas correctly around clauses and dialogue tags.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can find and correct convention errors in a paragraph without changing its meaning. The final draft formats titles, punctuates spoken words, and places commas between clauses when needed.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may underline and italicize the same title, or use quotation marks for every title. They often put dialogue punctuation outside the quotation marks or omit commas before dialogue tags. They may insert commas before every conjunction or miss one after an opening dependent clause.
How to Assess It
- Give this exit ticket: Edit the paragraph, “On Saturday I read Charlotte’s Web and I told Mia "The ending surprised me." Although I knew the story I cried.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs strips for narration, spoken words, and dialogue tags, then have them arrange and punctuate three lines of dialogue.
Ask students to explain each comma needed in, “Although it was late we kept reading, and we finished the chapter.”
Run an editing relay where teams correct title formatting, dialogue, compound sentences, and complex sentences on four posted cards.
Have students edit a mock book review for the class website, checking titles, emphasized words, dialogue quotations, and commas.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- 8.10.D.vi
punctuation, including commas in non-restrictive phrases and clauses, semicolons, colons, and parentheses; and
- 6.10.D.viii
punctuation marks, including commas in complex sentences, transitions, and introductory elements; and
- 3.11.D.x
punctuation marks, including apostrophes in contractions and possessives and commas in compound sentences and items in a series; and
- 4.11.D.x
punctuation marks, including apostrophes in possessives, commas in compound sentences, and quotation marks in dialogue; and
Turn this exact standard into a lesson
Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.