In today's blog post I'd like to discuss the comma splice and the run-on sentence.
It's the first time this semester that I check so many essays at an intermediate/upper-intermediate level, and I keep coming across tricky punctuation.
I've not had much personal experience when writing in English. Although I keep the blog in this language, I find it more and more necessary to read up on punctuation. I've prepared Students for TOEFL where the writing rules differ from the Bulgarian grammar we are taught in school, but I've not graded papers based on their criteria. To be fair I am a bit lost when correcting Students' writing at this level. There are some good activities on sentence structure in the approved course book (New English File), but there isn't much instruction on the use of punctuation for more advanced Students.
Here are some examples of incorrect punctuation and how to fix it.
One of the most common ways to use commas is to separate two main clauses that are connected by a coordinating conjunction such as “and,” “but,” or “or.”
Squiggly ran to the forest, and Aardvark chased the peeves.
Squiggly ran to the forest is a complete sentence, and Aardvark chased the peeves is also a complete sentence. To join them with a comma, you need the word “and” or some other coordinating conjunction. If you just put a comma between them, that's an error called a comma splice or a comma fault:
Squiggly ran to the forest, Aardvark chased the peeves. (wrong)
Here's another example:
COMMA SPLICE: I got up late this morning, I didn't have time for breakfast.
You can use one of the following ways to correct it:
CORRECTIONS:
I got up late this morning. I didn't have time for breakfast. (end-stop punctuation: the full stop ".")
or
I got up late this morning; I didn't have time for breakfast. (the semicolon ";" - commonly used in American English. If the two sentences are closely related to each other, you can use a semicolon to connect them without a coordinating conjunction.)
or
I got up late this morning, so I didn't have time for breakfast.
or
I got up late this morning, and I didn't have time for breakfast. (a coordinating conjunction)
In essence, commas aren't meant to join main clauses all by themselves; using a comma in this way leads to a comma splice.
That's bad punctuation, but it's easy to fix.
The comma splice is indeed a form of run-on sentence.
A RUN-ON SENTENCE (sometimes called a "fused sentence") has at least two parts, either one of which can stand by itself (in other words, two independent clauses), but the two parts have not been properly connected.
It is important to realize that the length of a sentence really has nothing to do with whether a sentence is a run-on or not; being a run-on is a structural flaw that can plague even a very short sentence:
The sun is high, put on some sunblock.
This is the comma splice error we discussed above.
Run-on sentences happen typically under the following circumstances*:
1. When an independent clause gives an order or directive based on what was said in the prior independent clause:
This next chapter has a lot of difficult information in it, you should start studying right away.
(We could put a period where that comma is and start a new sentence. A semicolon might also work there.)
2.When two independent clauses are connected by a transitional expression (conjunctive adverb) such as however, moreover, nevertheless.
Mr. Nguyen has sent his four children to ivy-league colleges, however, he has sacrificed his health working day and night in that dusty bakery.
(Again, where that first comma appears, we could have used either a period — and started a new sentence — or a semicolon.)
3.When the second of two independent clauses contains a pronoun that connects it to the first independent clause.
This computer doesn't make sense to me, it came without a manual.
(Although these two clauses are quite brief, and the ideas are closely related, this is a run-on sentence. We need a period where that comma now stands.)
Most of those computers in the Learning Assistance Center are broken already, this proves my point about American computer manufacturers.
Again, two nicely related clauses, incorrectly connected — a run-on. Use a period to cure this sentence.
These examples come from the below sources. Click on the link for further information.
GRAMMAR GIRL: SPLICE COMMA
SPLICE COMMA
RUN-ON SENTENCES
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