i have this assignment i need help on and it with commas, could anyone help me? here it is...

Radio waves were discovered in 1888 and Guglielmo Marconi first used them to send messages in the 1890s. Although many claimed the credit, the first voice heard on the radio belonged to Reginald Fessendens. In 1906 Fessendens a physicist born in Canada spoke from Massachusetts to ships offshore. Generally speaking radio communication was most useful in rescues. The "wireless" was used for ship-to-shore messages. By 1903 radio was being used by airline pilots the police and military personnel. Commercial broadcasting began according to experts when a Pittsburgh station aired the 1920 presidential election results.


please help me on it, i need to get my grade up...

Lowtax4eva

Just a thought... im no english major or anything but "While digging in the sand, Ricardo found a large worn shell." i dont think this needs a comma, the sentence fragment "while digging in the sand" is not a full sentence on its own, it has no subject, and i was always told a comma can be placed between 2 sentences that are placed together to form a single statement.

For example if it was "While we were digging in the sand, Ricardo found a large worn shell." this would be ok, i think therefore this comma can be removed.

Just a thought.

Emland

A good rule to remember, too, is if you can pull out the word/s between the commas and the sentence still makes sense then you have it right.

I tend to over comma and put one whenever I pause for thought. I then have to go back and trim them back!

plzhelpme

Dear Thad,

Ricardo and i were playing last week on the beach. While digging in the sand, Ricardo found a large worn shell. At first we didn't think it was anything special, but then i looked closer. On its side were some carved words and an old anchor. Ricardo and i immediately showed it to my mom. It reminded her of valuable examples of scrimshaw she had seen in Mystic, Connecticut, at a naval museum.
I'm hoping to find more shells when my family visits San Juan, Puerto Rico, to see relatives. I should be back by June 10, 2000, my fourteenth birthday.

your friend,

Rosa

please answer....thanks

Lowtax4eva

Yeah the post was modified and has actually been posted at least 4 times that ive seen today, i just relized i answered this in another thread a while back

J_9

Beautiful!!!!

Lowtax4eva

I was always taught if the block of text before and after the comma are both complete sentences then its ok.

Emland

We have some serious comma drama!

J_9

First, lets keep thin in one post. No need to keep posting new posts, okay?

Well, I see one mistake in your first sentence. Are you using the little pause trick?

Second sentence is GREAT.

Third sentence has the right number of commas, one is just in the wrong place.

Fourth sentence beginning with Generally speaking is missing a comma.

The last sentence beginning with Commercial broadcasting is missing a comma.

Feprincess

Where did I miss one?
I didn't change any of the structure although it's worded strangley.
I put the comma after "while digging in the sand" to add commentary on what he was doing.
You can use a comma with a subordinate clause(one that cannot stand on it's own) and a coordinate clause.

Why don't you do this one first and we'll tell you about it.

J_9

Move the comma from behind the word physicist to right after the man's name and see how that sounds.