Run-ons – Comma Splices – Fused Sentences

Run-ons, Comma Splices, and Fused Sentences are some of the most common grammatical errors that students make in their papers. Purdue’s OWL site gives a great explanation of these errors.

Join sentences (independent clauses) with a semicolon (;) or with a coordinating conjunction AND a comma. If you leave out the coordinating conjunction, you have a comma splice.  If you leave out the comma, you have a run-on sentence.

Luckily, there are only seven coordinating conjunctions to remember:

• and
• or
• but
• for
• nor
• so
• yet

Note:  a comma AND a coordinating conjunction join each of the following compound sentences:

I went swimming, and John went swimming, too.

We could go to the beach, or we could go to the mountains.

I miss having a cat, but I don’t mind not having a litter box.

We should bring Paul on the trip, for he can read maps really well.

Neither of us can sing, nor can we dance.

I have made up these sentences, so you will learn to punctuate correctly.

You may not have know about coordinating conjunctions before, yet I hope you will not forget them now.