Run-on Sentences
Independent Clauses
As a reminder, a complete sentence is filled with three things:
A noun (subject)
A verb (action word)
A complete thought
For example, I could have this sentence:
I bought milk.
I = subject (that which does the verb)
Bought = verb
Milk = complete thought
This is also known as an independent clause, with one subject, one verb, and one complete thought. Some sentences have two independent clauses. To correctly separate two independent clauses, we can do several things:
, FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)
Ex. I ate breakfast today, but I'm still hungry.
; (if the sentences are similar)
Ex. I was late to class; I got detention.
. (a period/full stop)
Ex. It's raining today. I forgot my umbrella.
subordinating conjunction
Ex. She went to tutoring because she needed extra help.
What are incorrect ways to separate independent clauses?
Fused Run-ons
Fused Run-on sentences are run together without any punctuation or conjunctions.
Fused: I hope to go to the movies this weekend there is a new one in the dollar theater.
This is wrong! We do not want this. To correct it, we would have to change it to one of the sentence combinations above:
Fixed: I hope to go to the movies this weekend; there is a new one in the dollar theater.
Fixed: I hope to go to the movies this weekend. There is a new one in the dollar theater.
Fixed: I hope to go to the movies this weekend, and there is a new one in the dollar theater.
Fixed: I hope to go to the movies this weekend because there is a new one in the dollar theater.
Comma Splice Run-ons
Comma splices happen when we have two independent clauses with only a comma separating them.
Comma Splice: Swimming is good exercise, I do it every morning.
This is wrong! We do not want this. To correct it, we would have to change it to one of the sentence combinations above:
Fixed: Swimming is good exercise; I do it every morning.
Fixed: Swimming is good exercise, so I do it every morning.
Fixed: Swimming is good exercise. I do it every morning.
Fixed: I go swimming every morning because it is good exercise.
For a more detailed explanation, read the following document and watch the following video:
Click on the picture to take the test. You will be able to see the answers and an explanation for the answers as soon as you submit your quiz.
