• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Commas: restrictive vs non-restrictive, coordinate adjectives; Combining sentences with appositives and participle phrases). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which sentence is punctuated correctly? • Ms Obi our coach, gave a speech. • Ms Obi, our coach, gave a speech. (Ms Obi our coach, gave a speech. / Ms Obi, our coach, gave a speech.) → Ms Obi, our coach, gave a speech.Prompt: Is the clause essential to identify the noun, or just extra information?
2. My grandmother taught me to bake bread. She is a retired teacher. Which choice combines the sentences most effectively using an appositive? (My grandmother a retired teacher taught me to bake bread. / My grandmother, a retired teacher, taught me to bake bread. / My grandmother taught me to bake bread, she is a retired teacher. / A retired teacher taught me to bake, my grandmother, bread.) → My grandmother, a retired teacher, taught me to bake bread.Prompt: Turn one sentence into a phrase that describes a noun in the other.
3. What has the writer used to combine ideas in this sentence? Hidden under the floorboards, the letters stayed secret for a century. (an appositive / a participle phrase) → a participle phrasePrompt: Does the added phrase start with a noun group (a…, the…) or with a verb form (-ing, -ed, -en)?

• Read a short passage with no punctuation and let the class hear why it's confusing.
• Share the objective: Essential or non-essential? Commas with appositives and clauses. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which option completes the sentence correctly? The novelist ___ won the Nobel Prize in 1993.
• Step 1: Non-essential (extra) information is set off with commas; essential (identifying) information is not.
• Step 2: Many novelists exist; the name identifies which one: no commas.
• Step 3: So the answer is: Toni Morrison
• Answer: Toni Morrison
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Is this sentence correct in formal written English? The novelist Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize in 1993. (correct / incorrect) → correctPrompt: Remove the words. Do we still know exactly who or what is meant?
2. Which option completes the sentence correctly? Toni Morrison ___ won the Nobel Prize in 1993. (an American novelist / , an American novelist,) → , an American novelist,Prompt: Remove the words. Do we still know exactly who or what is meant?

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Which option completes the sentence correctly? Paris ___ attracts millions of visitors. (, which is the capital of France, / which is the capital of France) → , which is the capital of France,Prompt: Remove the words. Do we still know exactly who or what is meant?
2. Is this sentence correct in formal written English? (Ana has one grandmother.) Ana's grandmother, who is ninety, still swims every day. (correct / incorrect) → correctPrompt: Remove the words. Do we still know exactly who or what is meant?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-9.