Is this sentence missing punctuation?

Question

There once was a boy who could not see born in Virginia.

Answer 1

Hi Ethan,

I understand it can be challenging to identify where to put punctuation.

I find it helpful to read the phrase aloud. It can be helpful to hear how the words sound, where you pause, or how you change tone.

A period indicates when you stop talking or there is a complete thought that can stand alone. A comma is used to separate ideas within a sentence—when you read aloud there is often a breath that is taken.

An example is “The ice cream needs time to freeze, Stephanie.” Without the comma separating “freeze” and “Stephanie” it sounds like the ice cream is trying to make Stephanie frozen. With the comma, it separates the ice cream needing time to freeze and the person who is being spoken to.

In your example, “There once was a boy who could not see born in Virginia”—does it make sense that a boy could not see just in Virginia or does it make more sense that he is a boy who could not see who happened to be born in Virginia? Identifying this will help you to know where to put your punctuation.

Happy to discuss this more and work with you on punctuation. You can message me if you think that will be helpful.

Answer 2

You should rearrange the wording as follows in order for the sentence to be grammatically correct (adding commas where indicated):

There once was a boy, born in Virginia, who could not see.

Answer 3

You can either rearrange the sentence or add punctuation to make it clearer. For instance, you can put punctuation around a nonrestrictive clause like so: There once was a boy--who could not see--born in Virginia.

Answer 4

At first it seems to be too much in one sentence, needing to be chopped up with commas and probably a period to make two sentences.

But maybe the real problem is the reverse

Virigina boy born blind ..... then add an active verb

such as

Virgina boy born blind prospered like Helen Keller

or

Virgina boy born blind survived with service dogs.

ABC's of good writing are

Accuracy and Action

Brevity

Clarity

Brevity means avoid unnecessary words

avoid passive tense

avoid "a" "is" "there was"

have the boy doing something, actively