Free Grammar Help—Sentences— Run-on Sentence
A run-on sentence is a sentence with two (or more!) complete thoughts that are run together with no adequate sign to mark the break between them. Two kinds of run-on sentences are fused sentences and comma splices.
Fused Sentences
Some run-ons have no punctuation at all to mark the break between the thoughts. Such run-ons are known as fused sentences: they are fused, or joined together, as if they are only one thought. Some teachers mark fs in the margin of a paper to indicate: fused sentence.
Fused Sentence Examples
My grades are very good this semester my social life rates only a C.
Our father was a madman in his youth he would do anything on a dare.
I love music Lady Gaga is my favorite artist.
Our dog is such a goofball he often chases his tail.
Comma Splices
A comma can be used to join two parts of a sentence, but if the two parts are strong enough to stand on their own, then a comma is not strong enough to join them.
In run-on errors known as comma splices, a comma is used to connect or “splice” together the two complete thoughts. Some teachers mark cs in the margin of a paper to indicate: comma splice.
If you have a very long sentence with lots of commas in it, you have probably written a sentence with a comma splice error.
Comma Splice Examples
My grades are very good this semester, my social life rates only a C.
Our father was a madman in his youth, he would do anything on a dare.
I love music, Lady Gaga is my favorite artist.
Our dog is such a goofball, he often chases his tail.
Comma splices are the most common kind of run-on mistake. Students sense that some kind of connection is needed between two thoughts, and so put a comma at the dividing point. But the comma alone is not sufficient, and a stronger, clearer mark between the two thoughts is needed.
Three common methods of correcting a run-on sentence:
- Use a period and a capital letter to break the two complete thoughts into separate sentences.
My grades are very good this semester. My social life rates only a C.
Our father was a madman in his youth. He would do anything on a dare.
I love music. Lady Gaga is my favorite artist.
Our dog is such a goofball. He often chases his tail. - Use a comma plus a joining word (conjunction: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet) to connect the two complete thoughts.
My grades are very good this semester, but my social life rates only a C.
Our father was a madman in his youth, for he would do anything on a dare.
I love music, and Lady Gaga is my favorite artist.
Our dog is such a goofball, because he often chases his tail. - Use a semicolon to connect the two complete thoughts.
My grades are very good this semester; my social life rates only a C.
Our father was a complete madman in his youth; he would do anything on a dare.
I love music; Lady Gaga is my favorite artist.
Our dog is such a goofball; he often chases his tail.
A fourth method of correcting a run-on is to use subordination using a coordinating conjunction. See conjunctions.