"Comments" sits underneath "updateable items" so
SQL> create table t (
2 c1 clob
3 );
Table created.
SQL> set define off
SQL> begin
2 insert into t values ('<updateSpecificActivity>D1YS</updateSpecificActivity>
3 <updateableItems>
4 <comments>Editing comments</comments>
5 <instructions>Editing comments</instructions>
6 <startDateTime>2020-10-27-00.00.00</startDateTime>
7 </updateableItems>
8 <isAppointmentNecessary>N</isAppointmentNecessary>
9 <appointmentWindow/>
10 <allowParentTransition>true</allowParentTransition>
11 <replyToExternalSystem>D1YS</replyToExternalSystem>
12 <retryDetails>
13 <numberOfRetries>0</numberOfRetries>
14 <isToDoEntrySuppressed>false</isToDoEntrySuppressed>
15 </retryDetails>');
16 commit;
17 end;
18 /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL>
SQL> select x.*
2 from t, xmltable (
3 '/record/comments'
4 passing xmltype ( '<record>' || c1 || '</record>' )
5 columns
6 comments varchar2(100) path '/'
7 ) x;
no rows selected
SQL> select x.*
2 from t, xmltable (
3 '/record/updateableItems/comments'
4 passing xmltype ( '<record>' || c1 || '</record>' )
5 columns
6 comments varchar2(100) path '/'
7 ) x;
COMMENTS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editing comments
SQL>