SAT Writing and Language Tips: No Solo Comma

Do your students struggle with commas? If so, they aren’t alone. Commas are inarguably one of the most confusing grammatical concepts for students (and even professionals). Why is that?

Well, it’s probably because commas have many rules and, of course, exceptions to the rules. Commas are little marks that don’t make a noise, but they do add something to the way that you read. In fact, they create the opposite of noise: silence. How can you use this characteristic to determine where a comma should definitely not appear in a sentence?

To help students succeed in the Writing and Language portion of the SAT, they need to have a good handle on determining if and when a comma is necessary.

In our newly released SAT Study Hall feature in our TruScore SAT Practice Testing and Analysis, we provide short videos to help students understand important content areas (such as commas) that they struggled with on in the practice test.

Check out this quick “No Solo Comma” video to help students better grasp when not to use a comma in a sentence. Make sure to share it with your students!