🥑 comma q's and a GIVEAWAY

Once we reach 100 subscribers, I’ll pick one random subscriber to win 20% off any editing service in the next year. Forward this to your author friends, and thanks for reading Avocado Bites!

P.S. there’s a giveaway below…

Okay, quiz time. I give you a sentence, and you tell me if my commas (or lack of commas) are right or wrong according to all the stuff we talked about this week. Answers at the bottom of the page.

1. My only son Wilhelm is seven feet tall.

2. My son Wilhelm is one of my many sons.

3. Billy was quoted as saying that “anything can be a vegetable if you just believe.”

4. Brenda jumped onto the train, which was racing along at five miles per hour.

5. Marco has a large, green, salad spinner.

6. If you think this sentence needs a comma, you may be right.

7. I’ve edited a lot of books, and my favorite genre to edit has been fantasy.

8. Victor sat in the garden, and took a bite from every tomato within reach.

9. Brandon Sanderson has wrecked my soul, my sanity, and my savings.

10. This is a comma splice, it’s definitely incorrect.

Now for the giveaway: respond to this email with your answers and I’ll enter you in a random drawing for a $15 Bookshop.org gift card! Small text incoming:

^{I’ll pick one random responder on Monday, June 2, 2025 and contact you via email. Respond to claim your prize by Monday, June 9, 2025 or it’s void. Not affiliated with anyone besides little old me.}

Okay, now the answers!

1. Wrong. Wilhelm is an appositive for “my only son,” so we put commas around his name.

2. Right. Wilhelm is one of many sons, so it’s not an appositive and doesn’t use a comma.

3. Right. It’s a quote, not dialogue, so no comma is needed to separate it.

4. Right. The phrase “which was…” is a relative clause referring to the whole sentence, so we use a comma between it and the rest of the sentence. (We’ll talk about that and which later!)

5. Wrong. No comma needed before “salad spinner.” The comma before “green” is optional (depending on who you ask).

6. Right. Dependent clause, comma, independent clause.

7. Right. Two independent clauses, so we use a comma and a conjunction to separate them.

8. Wrong. Both verbs belong to Victor, so we don’t use a comma between them.

9. Right. For a list of three or more items, we use commas between each one. Oxford comma haters, fight me.

10. Wrong. I even told you it was wrong!

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I appreciate the comma-raderie. (No regrets.) Share this with your friends who like nerdy online quizzes and supporting independent bookstores!

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