Question

Is this sentence punctuated correctly?
At elementary school, my teacher delighted in handing me worksheets crowded with row upon row of three to five digit long division problems.

Answer 1

No.

Study hyphen and comma rules. Then try it again.

Answer 2

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index2.htm

Answer 3

Ok, I hyphenated the words "three-to-five digit." But the rules say that a word that modifies the adjective and not the object should not have a comma separating the modifier and the adjective it modifies.
In my sentence, I have the phrase "row upon row of three-to-five digit long division problems." "Three-to-five digit" modifies the type of division, not the word "problem." I cannot write, "three-to-five digit and division problem" - it doesn't make sense. So would there still be a comma?

Answer 4

No comma is needed there, but you need a comma elsewhere in the sentence.

Read the sentence aloud.

Answer 5

Is this better?

At elementary school, my teacher delighted in handing me worksheets that were crowded with row upon row of three-to-five digit long division problems.

Answer 6

Why did you add "that were" when all you needed to do there was add a comma??!

It's not incorrect, but adding words to a long sentence is not usually a good idea.

Answer 7

I added words instead of a comma because there aren't multiple elements in a series or coordinate adjectives, there aren't two independent clauses, there are no introductory or parenthetical elements, nothing is quoted, there is no confusion, and there are no phrases that express contrast. I simply couldn't find an accepted reason to put one in. :-)

Answer 8

The participle "crowded" and its phrase are modifying "worksheets." That participial phrase is a type of parenthetical element, #4 on this list:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm

Answer 9

Thank you so much for explaining, and thank you for the website. I saved the link and will be using it this quarter as I take my English class.
:-)

Answer 10

You're very welcome!