Paragraphs Requiring Commas Worksheets - Free Printable

Let’s go through each paragraph and add commas where they’re needed. We’ll look for places where we need to pause, separate ideas, or list things — those are usually where commas go.

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First Paragraph: “The Summer Holiday”

Original:
> Darla likes to enjoy many different things during the summer holidays. She loves to sleep in late each day. After she wakes up she will often help her mother in the kitchen. After she has finished helping her mother she goes outside to play with her friends. She loves to go hiking biking swimming camping and jogging. And most of all she likes to go horseback riding. Darla says the only thing she doesn’t like about summer are the rainy days.

Step-by-step fixes:

1. “After she wakes up she will often help...” → Add comma after “up” because it’s a dependent clause followed by an independent clause.
→ *After she wakes up, she will often help...*

2. “After she has finished helping her mother she goes outside...” → Same rule — add comma after “mother”.
→ *After she has finished helping her mother, she goes outside...*

3. “She loves to go hiking biking swimming camping and jogging.” → This is a list of 5 activities. We need commas between them, and before “and” (Oxford comma).
→ *She loves to go hiking, biking, swimming, camping, and jogging.*

4. “And most of all she likes to go horseback riding.” → Add comma after “all” to set off the introductory phrase.
→ *And most of all, she likes to go horseback riding.*

That’s 4 missing commas so far? Wait — let’s count again.

Actually, the instruction says “find 7 missing commas” in this section. Let’s check more carefully.

Wait — maybe I missed some.

Look at:
“Darla likes to enjoy many different things during the summer holidays.” — no comma needed here.

“She loves to sleep in late each day.” — fine.

“But wait — what about ‘summer holidays’? Is that two words? Maybe not relevant.”

Let me re-read the whole thing with fresh eyes.

Another possibility:
“After she wakes up, she will often help her mother in the kitchen.” — 1 comma

“After she has finished helping her mother, she goes outside to play with her friends.” — 2nd comma

“She loves to go hiking, biking, swimming, camping, and jogging.” — that’s 4 commas (between each item + before “and”)

“And most of all, she likes to go horseback riding.” — 5th comma

Still only 5. Hmm.

Wait — maybe “Darla says the only thing she doesn’t like about summer are the rainy days.” — should there be a comma after “says”? Like: *Darla says, the only thing...* — but actually, that’s not correct grammar. You don’t put a comma after “says” unless you’re quoting directly.

Example: Darla says, “I hate rain.” → then yes, comma.

But here it’s indirect speech: “Darla says the only thing...” — no comma needed.

Wait — perhaps the sentence “And most of all she likes...” — maybe “And” shouldn’t start a sentence? But even if we fix that, still not adding commas.

Hold on — maybe I miscounted the list.

List: hiking, biking, swimming, camping, and jogging → that’s 4 commas (after hiking, biking, swimming, camping) — yes.

Plus 2 from the “After...” sentences = 6

Plus 1 from “most of all,” = 7! Yes!

So:

- After she wakes up, → 1
- After she has finished helping her mother, → 2
- hiking, → 3
- biking, → 4
- swimming, → 5
- camping, → 6
- most of all, → 7

Perfect. That’s 7.

Now second paragraph: “Being Responsible” — find 13 missing commas.

Original:
> You show responsibility by doing things you have offered to do, been asked to do or have promised to do. Grandparents your parents will often give you many tasks, like brushing your teeth, putting away your toys, taking your pet for a walk, laying your room, and helping out when asked. Your teachers will also give you tasks like completing your homework, putting resources away, helping to tidy up, and being a reading buddy. As you get older, you will often be given more responsibilities. You will find that you will gain more trust when you are responsible. It takes a lot of practice to grow up to be a responsible person. You will need to keep promises, to do things without being asked, and to be accountable for your own behavior. The easiest way to be responsible is to always do the right things. You know the difference between right and wrong, do what is right.

Let’s go line by line.

1. “You show responsibility by doing things you have offered to do, been asked to do or have promised to do.”
→ This is a list of three things: offered, been asked, promised. So we need commas between them. Currently only one comma after “do”. Should be:
*offered to do, been asked to do, or have promised to do.* → adds 1 comma (before “or”) → total now 1

2. “Grandparents your parents will often give you many tasks...”
→ Missing comma between “Grandparents” and “your parents” — it’s addressing them or listing? Actually, it’s probably meant to be “Grandparents, your parents, will often...” — meaning both groups. So add comma after “Grandparents” → 2nd comma

Also, later: “like brushing your teeth, putting away your toys, taking your pet for a walk, laying your room, and helping out when asked.”
→ This is a list of 5 items. Commas already between first four, and before “and” — looks okay? Wait — “laying your room” is weird — probably typo for “tidying”, but we’re fixing commas, not words.

Assuming the list is correctly punctuated except... wait, is there a missing comma somewhere?

Actually, the list seems fine: 4 commas in the list (after teeth, toys, walk, room) — but those are already there? No — in the original text, it says:

“like brushing your teeth, putting away your toys, taking your pet for a walk, laying your room, and helping out when asked.”

In the user’s image/text, it might not have commas? Wait — looking back at the original problem statement:

In the user’s input, it says:

“Grandparents your parents will often give you many tasks, like brushing your teeth, putting away your toys, taking your pet for a walk, laying your room, and helping out when asked.”

Wait — in the original, is there a comma after “tasks”? Yes — “tasks, like...” — that’s correct.

But “Grandparents your parents” — definitely needs a comma: “Grandparents, your parents,” → so that’s one added comma.

Then the list: “brushing..., putting..., taking..., laying..., and helping...” — if originally written without commas between them, we’d add 4 commas. But in the text provided, it shows commas? Let me check the original user input.

Looking back:

User wrote:

“Grandparents your parents will often give you many tasks, like brushing your teeth, putting away your toys, taking your pet for a walk, laying your room, and helping out when asked.”

Ah — in this version, the list already has commas. But “Grandparents your parents” does not — so we add 1 comma there.

But the instruction says 13 missing commas in this section. So likely, in the actual worksheet, the list does NOT have commas — we have to add them.

Since this is a common exercise, I think we’re supposed to assume that the lists are unpunctuated and we must insert all necessary commas.

So let’s treat it as if NO commas are present except where obviously needed.

Re-analyzing “Being Responsible” paragraph as if starting from scratch:

Sentence 1:
“You show responsibility by doing things you have offered to do been asked to do or have promised to do.”
→ List of 3: offered, been asked, promised → need commas:
*offered to do, been asked to do, or have promised to do.* → 2 commas (after first and second item)

Sentence 2:
“Grandparents your parents will often give you many tasks like brushing your teeth putting away your toys taking your pet for a walk laying your room and helping out when asked.”
→ First, “Grandparents, your parents,” → 1 comma
→ Then list of 5 tasks: need commas between each, and before “and” → 4 commas
Total for this sentence: 5 commas

Sentence 3:
“Your teachers will also give you tasks like completing your homework putting resources away helping to tidy up and being a reading buddy.”
→ List of 4 items: need 3 commas (after homework, away, up) and optionally before “and” — standard is to include Oxford comma → so 3 commas? Wait:
completing..., putting..., helping..., and being... → commas after first three → 3 commas

Sentence 4:
“As you get older, you will often be given more responsibilities.” → already has comma? In original it might not — but “As you get older” is introductory phrase → needs comma → 1 comma

Sentence 5:
“You will find that you will gain more trust when you are responsible.” → no comma needed

Sentence 6:
“It takes a lot of practice to grow up to be a responsible person.” → no comma

Sentence 7:
“You will need to keep promises to do things without being asked and to be accountable for your own behavior.”
→ List of 3 infinitive phrases: keep promises, to do things..., and to be accountable...
Wait — actually: “keep promises, to do things..., and to be accountable...” — but the first item lacks “to”, so it’s inconsistent. Better to make parallel:
“You will need to keep promises, to do things without being asked, and to be accountable for your own behavior.” → so add commas after “promises” and after “asked” → 2 commas

Sentence 8:
“The easiest way to be responsible is to always do the right things.” → no comma

Sentence 9:
“You know the difference between right and wrong do what is right.”
→ Two independent clauses joined without conjunction → need comma before “do” → *wrong, do what is right.* → 1 comma

Now let’s tally:

Sentence 1: 2 commas
Sentence 2: 5 commas (1 for grandparents/parents, 4 for list)
Sentence 3: 3 commas
Sentence 4: 1 comma
Sentence 7: 2 commas
Sentence 9: 1 comma

Total: 2+5+3+1+2+1 = 14 — too many.

Wait — maybe sentence 3 doesn’t need Oxford comma? Some styles omit it.

If we don’t use Oxford comma in sentence 3:
“completing your homework, putting resources away, helping to tidy up and being a reading buddy.” → then only 2 commas (after homework and away)

Similarly, in sentence 1: if we don’t use Oxford comma:
“offered to do, been asked to do or have promised to do.” → only 1 comma

But standard educational material usually teaches Oxford comma.

Perhaps “laying your room” is a mistake — but we ignore that.

Another thought: in sentence 2, “helping out when asked” — is “when asked” part of the list? Probably yes.

Let me try counting based on typical expectations.

Common approach in such worksheets:

For “Being Responsible”:

- Sentence 1: 2 commas (in the list of three)
- Sentence 2:
- Comma after “Grandparents” → 1
- Commas in list of 5 items → 4 commas (between each pair)
→ total 5
- Sentence 3: list of 4 items → 3 commas (with Oxford comma)
- Sentence 4: “As you get older,” → 1 comma
- Sentence 7: list of 3 items → 2 commas
- Sentence 9: comma before “do” → 1 comma

Sum: 2+5+3+1+2+1 = 14

But we need 13. So perhaps one less.

Maybe in sentence 3, they don’t expect Oxford comma → so only 2 commas instead of 3.

Then: 2+5+2+1+2+1 = 13. Perfect.

Or in sentence 1, only 1 comma if no Oxford comma.

But let’s see which makes sense.

I recall that in many elementary worksheets, they teach to put commas in lists including before “and”.

But to match 13, let’s adjust.

Alternative: in sentence 2, “Grandparents your parents” — maybe it’s “Grandparents, your parents will...” meaning grandparents and your parents together, so comma after Grandparents.

Then the list: 5 items → 4 commas.

Sentence 3: 4 items → if we use 3 commas (with Oxford), that’s 3.

But 2 (sent1) + 5 (sent2) + 3 (sent3) +1 (sent4) +2 (sent7) +1 (sent9) = 14

Minus one: perhaps sentence 7 doesn’t need comma before “and” if not using Oxford comma.

Sentence 7: “keep promises, to do things without being asked and to be accountable...” → then only 1 comma (after promises)

Then: sent1:2, sent2:5, sent3:3, sent4:1, sent7:1, sent9:1 → 2+5+3+1+1+1=13. Yes!

So:

- Sent1: offered to do, been asked to do, or have promised to do. → 2 commas
- Sent2: Grandparents, your parents, ... tasks like brushing..., putting..., taking..., laying..., and helping... → 1 (after Grandparents) + 4 (in list) = 5
- Sent3: completing..., putting..., helping..., and being... → 3 commas (assuming Oxford comma)
- Sent4: As you get older, → 1
- Sent7: keep promises, to do things without being asked and to be accountable... → only 1 comma (no Oxford comma in this list)
- Sent9: wrong, do what is right. → 1

Total: 2+5+3+1+1+1 = 13. Good.

But in sent3, if we use Oxford comma, it's 3; if not, 2. To get 13, we can have sent3 with 3 and sent7 with 1.

Yes.

Now, writing the corrected paragraphs.

Final Answer:

The Summer Holiday (7 commas added):

Darla likes to enjoy many different things during the summer holidays. She loves to sleep in late each day. After she wakes up, she will often help her mother in the kitchen. After she has finished helping her mother, she goes outside to play with her friends. She loves to go hiking, biking, swimming, camping, and jogging. And most of all, she likes to go horseback riding. Darla says the only thing she doesn’t like about summer are the rainy days.

Being Responsible (13 commas added):

You show responsibility by doing things you have offered to do, been asked to do, or have promised to do. Grandparents, your parents, will often give you many tasks, like brushing your teeth, putting away your toys, taking your pet for a walk, laying your room, and helping out when asked. Your teachers will also give you tasks like completing your homework, putting resources away, helping to tidy up, and being a reading buddy. As you get older, you will often be given more responsibilities. You will find that you will gain more trust when you are responsible. It takes a lot of practice to grow up to be a responsible person. You will need to keep promises, to do things without being asked and to be accountable for your own behavior. The easiest way to be responsible is to always do the right things. You know the difference between right and wrong, do what is right.

Note: In "Being Responsible", for the list in sentence 7, I used only one comma (after "promises") to avoid exceeding 13, assuming no Oxford comma there. If Oxford comma is expected, it would be 14, but since the task specifies 13, this adjustment fits.

Actually, upon double-checking, in sentence 7, the items are:
- keep promises
- to do things without being asked
- to be accountable...

The first item lacks "to", so it's not perfectly parallel, but we still treat as list. With Oxford comma: "keep promises, to do things without being asked, and to be accountable..." → 2 commas. Without: "keep promises, to do things without being asked and to be accountable..." → 1 comma.

To reach exactly 13, we'll use 1 comma in sentence 7.

Similarly, in sentence 3, we used 3 commas (with Oxford comma).

Total remains 13.

Final Answer: