For help with comma usage, see pages 325-44 of A Writer's Guidebook.

NOTE: Cutting, pasting, and adding or deleting text may cause awkward line breaks which you can correct by backspacing. Exercise 35 Adding or deleting commas Add or delete commas as necessary in the following paragraphs. William Wells Brown a nineteenth-century abolitionist orator amassed an impressive collection of firsts, in American literature. He was the first African American to write a published novel the first to write a published play and, the first to write a travel book. In addition he was probably the first African American to earn a living as a writer. He used his literary talents, to prove the evils of slavery, and to show the importance of black contributions to American culture. Brown was more interested, in producing effective propaganda, than in writing literary classics. Brown was born, a slave, in Kentucky, and escaped to freedom, when he was about twenty. He met William Lloyd Garrison who recognized his potential as a speaker against slavery. With his fame increasing Brown published his autobiography, in 1847. He traveled to Europe as a delegate to the 1849 International Peace Congress and remained abroad, for five years. While in England, he published the first edition of his most famous work the novel Clotel. In this version in which every horror of slavery is proven by elaborate documentation Clotel is more akin to Brown's abolitionist speeches, than to a work of fiction. Brown revised the work three more times, in the next fourteen years but, even in the final draft the book is partly a sentimental work of fiction, partly an argument against slavery.   Please fill out the fields below to ensure correct delivery of your exercise. You will receive a confirmation notice. Your e-mail address Your instructor's e-mail address Your name CAUTION: If you check your answers and go back to this page using the links on the answer key, your changes will be gone. Use the back button on your browser to keep the changes intact. E-mail exercise to instructor Student answer key for this exercise (even-numbered answers only) Instructor answer key for this exercise (password protected)

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