is thissentence punctuated correctly? "the hardware store down the street, which had been paved recently,is open until midnight five days a week."

If you put capital letters in the right place, yes, that sentence is punctuated correctly. Between the commas, you have a parenthetical element (a clause that can be removed without changing the meaning of the main clause).

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm
See #4.

As it reads, one could interpret that the hardware store had been paved!

Sra

To check if the sentence is punctuated correctly, let's break it down:

"The hardware store down the street, which had been paved recently, is open until midnight five days a week."

1. Commas before and after "which had been paved recently" are used to set off a nonessential phrase. This phrase provides additional information but is not necessary for the understanding of the sentence. In this case, the sentence would still make sense without the phrase "which had been paved recently."

2. The comma after "midnight" is used to separate a dependent clause. "Five days a week" is an adverbial clause that modifies the verb "is open." This comma is known as a parenthetical comma.

Based on these observations, the sentence is punctuated correctly.