Runon Sentences, Comma Splices and Sentence Fragments

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Run-on Sentences, Comma Splices and Sentence
Fragments
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What kind of sentence is this?

• Knowing that millions of people around the world
  would be watching in person and on television and
  expecting great things from him at least one
  more gold medal for America, if not another world
  record during this, his fourth and surely his
  last appearance in the World Olympics, and
  realizing, that his legs could no longer carry
  him down the runway with the same blazing speed
  and confidence in making a huge, eye-popping leap
  that they were capable of a few years ago when he
  set world records in the 100-metre dash and in
  the 400-metre relay and won a silver medal in the
  long jump, the renowned sprinter and
  track-and-field personality, Carl Lewis, who had
  known pressure from fans and media before but
  never, even as a professional runner, this kind
  of pressure, made only a few appearances in races
  during the few months before the Summer Olympics
  in Atlanta, Georgia, partly because he was afraid
  of raising expectations even higher and he did
  not want to be distracted by interviews and
  adoring fans who would follow him into stores and
  restaurants demanding autographs and
  photo-opportunities, but mostly because he wanted
  to conserve his energies and concentrate, like a
  martial arts expert, on the job at hand winning
  his favourite competition, the long jump, and
  bringing home another Gold Medal for the United
  States, the most fitting conclusion to his
  brilliant career in track and field.

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Definition of a run-on sentence

• A sentence in which two or more independent
  clauses are joined with no punctuation or
  conjunction at all.
• The sample on the last slide was NOT a run-on
  sentence! It contained only ONE independent
  clause.
• A run-on sentence is not simply a very long
  sentence.

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How can I fix a run-on sentence?

• We have established that a run-on sentence is a
  sentence that contains (at least) two independent
  clauses.
• We can fix a run-on sentence by
• Writing the independent clauses as separate
  sentences by separating them with a period
• Inserting a semi-colon between the independent
  clauses
• Inserting a conjunction (such as and or but)
  between the independent clauses

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Writing the independent clauses as separate
sentences

• Example of a run-on sentence
• The bus is late we wont make it to the concert
  on time.
• Correction
• The bus is late. We wont make it to the concert
  on time.

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Inserting a semi-colon between the independent
clauses

• Example of a run-on sentence
• The bus is late we wont make it to the concert
  on time.
• Correction
• The bus is late we wont make it to the concert
  on time.

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Inserting a conjunction between the independent
clauses

• Example of a run-on sentence
• The bus is late we wont make it to the concert
  on time.
• Correction
• The bus is late, so we wont make it to the
  concert on time.

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Inserting a conjunction between the independent
clauses

• Generally you would place a comma followed by a
  conjunction separating the independent clauses.
• It is NOT correct to simply insert a comma
  between independent clauses. To do so would
  create a.

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Comma Splice

• A comma splice occurs when independent clauses
  are connected by only a comma.
• If you use a comma to connect independent
  clauses, the comma must be accompanied by a
  conjunction such as and, but, for, nor,
  yet, or, so.

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Comma Splice

• You would correct a comma splice as you would a
  run-on sentence
• Writing the independent clauses as separate
  sentences
• Inserting a semi-colon between the independent
  clauses
• Inserting a conjunction (such as and or but)
  between the independent clauses

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Comma Splice

• Example of a comma splice
• Its getting late, Im tired.
• Corrections
• Its getting late. Im tired.
• Its getting late Im tired.
• Its getting late, and Im tired.

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Sentence Fragment

• A fragment is an incomplete sentence.
• A sentence fragment does not contain an
  independent clause.
• There needs to be proper subject-verb agreement
  for a sentence to stand on its own.
• A fragment of a sentence does not give us the
  complete thought.

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Sentence Fragment

• Example
• Sailing into the new world in an effort to make a
  better life for his family.
• This is a verbal phrase that wants to modify
  something. The real subject of the sentence has
  yet to be inserted at the end of this fragment.

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Sentence Fragment

• Example
• All the workers picketing at the plant last
  month.
• An ing verb form without an auxiliary form to
  accompany it can never be a verb.

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Sentence Fragment

• Example
• Even though she had the best marks in the class.
• This is an example of a dependent clause.
• This fragment needs to be followed by an
  independent clause.
• We know that this sentence cannot stand by itself
  because of the subordinating conjunction even
  though.

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Sentence Fragment

• Just as a very long sentence is not necessarily a
  run-on sentence, a very short sentence need not
  be a fragment.
• For example
• Go!
• I ate.
• Its gone.

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Reference

• A Good 200-Word Sentence. Retrieved February 3,
  2008, from http//grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
  run-on.htm