• 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? • It was a cold, dark night. • It was a cold dark, night. (It was a cold, dark night. / It was a cold dark, night.) → It was a cold, dark night.Prompt: Is the clause essential to identify the noun, or just extra information?
2. The Amazon is the largest rainforest on Earth. It produces a huge amount of oxygen. Which choice combines the sentences most effectively using an appositive? (The Amazon the largest rainforest on Earth produces a huge amount of oxygen. / The Amazon is the largest rainforest on Earth, it produces a huge amount of oxygen. / The largest rainforest on Earth produces, the Amazon, a huge amount of oxygen. / The Amazon, the largest rainforest on Earth, produces a huge amount of oxygen.) → The Amazon, the largest rainforest on Earth, produces a huge amount of oxygen.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? Our coach, a former Olympic swimmer, runs the club. (an appositive / a participle phrase) → an appositivePrompt: 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 song "Blue Lights" became a hit. (correct / incorrect) → correctPrompt: Remove the words. Do we still know exactly who or what is meant?
2. Which option completes the sentence correctly? The film ___ was filmed in Iceland. (, that we saw last night, / that we saw last night) → that we saw last nightPrompt: 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? The film ___ was filmed in Iceland. (that we saw last night / , that we saw last night,) → that we saw last nightPrompt: Remove the words. Do we still know exactly who or what is meant?
2. Is this sentence correct in formal written English? The athlete, who trained in the mountains, broke the record. (correct / incorrect) → incorrectPrompt: 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.