Which of the following sentences shows correct usage of a comma or commas?
A. Christopher Wren, a contemporary of Isaac Newton and John Locke, was the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral.
B. William of Orange, arrived in England in 1688, to claim the English throne from James II
C. Claire's plum pudding was mainly distinctive, for its absence plums.
D. After a fire at their home, Carlie and her mother rented a house in Glendale Arizona from Onember 14, 2007 to January 28, 2008.
Student answer A
A is correct, yes.
The sentence "Christopher Wren, a contemporary of Isaac Newton and John Locke, was the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral" shows correct usage of commas.
Correct usage of commas is shown in sentence A.
To determine the correct usage of commas, we need to understand the rules for comma placement. In this case, sentence A correctly uses two commas to set off the phrase "a contemporary of Isaac Newton and John Locke" as nonessential information. This means that the sentence would still make sense without the phrase in between the commas. The commas help to separate the additional information from the main part of the sentence.
Sentence B incorrectly uses a comma after "Orange" and before "arrived." This comma is unnecessary and disrupts the flow of the sentence.
Sentence C incorrectly uses a comma after "distinctive" and before "for." Commas are not needed in this case.
Sentence D incorrectly places a comma after "Onember 14, 2007." The word "to" is not a coordinating conjunction that requires a comma before it. Instead, a hyphen should be used between the dates "November 14, 2007" and "January 28, 2008" to indicate a range.
Therefore, the correct answer is A.