A missing comma can turn an invitation to Grandpa into a plan to eat him. This three-page Year 5 lesson starter uses sentence pairs like that to show how one comma changes meaning. Pupils match meanings, choose the right sentence for a picture, then add commas to save a class and some monkeys. It follows the England National Curriculum objective on using commas to avoid ambiguity. Answers are included for all six questions.
Writing - vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
“Using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing”
All six questions turn on a single comma, and questions 5 and 6 ask pupils to place it themselves.
Pupils decide which of two Grandpa sentences is an invitation to a meal and which makes him the meal.
Pupils pick the right version of 'Look at that huge hot dog' for a picture, and the baking sentence that keeps the dog out of the oven.
Pupils add one comma to 'Time to eat class' and one to a zookeeper's line to the monkeys.
Lesson opener
Show the Grandpa pair on the board and let the class laugh before you explain why it works.
Mini whiteboards
Read out the sentences from questions 5 and 6. Pupils write the corrected versions and hold them up.
Editing reminder
Before pupils edit their own writing, bring back the baking sentence and ask them to check every list.
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