FEATURE: Run-On Sentences

[whymzycal.livejournal.com]

What is a run-on sentence?

Aside from being the bane of composition students everywhere, the run-on sentence is defined as either a sentence that doesn’t stop where it should or, in slightly more grammatical terms, as a sentence consisting of independent clauses that haven’t been joined together correctly. (For a quick rundown of independent clauses, see this Feature here.)

So what do run-ons look like, and how do we fix ‘em?

Some grammarians make a distinction between fused run-on sentences and comma splice run-on sentences. Fused run-ons are sentences in which two independent clauses aren’t joined by one of the coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) and don’t have the correct punctuation between them:

Dean ran from the rougarou he really didn’t want his leg chewed on by a snarling monster today.

Bobby spiked another bottle of rotgut with holy water his daddy had taught him it was always good to be prepared.

Comma splice run-ons consist of independent clauses joined only by a comma. They also lack a conjunction:

Sam’s getting the daylights choked out of him, that means it must be a Thursday night.

The Winchesters know that all angels are dicks, it’s one of the great universal truths.

In each of these examples, the independent clauses are running into each other (a comma on its own isn’t strong enough to join two independent clauses), making the sentences grammatically incorrect. So now we just have to figure out how to fix them.

In general, there are four ways to fix a run-on. The first way is to use a comma and one of the coordinating conjunctions:

Sam’s getting the daylights choked out of him, so that means it must be a Thursday night.

The second way is to use a semicolon, colon, or a dash—whichever is most appropriate. (For a quick refresher on semicolons and colons, see this Feature. For a reminder on how to use dashes, go here.)

The Winchesters know that all angels are dicks; it’s one of the great universal truths.

or

The Winchesters know that all angels are dicks—it’s one of the great universal truths.

A third way to fix run-ons is to make the independent clauses into separate sentences:

Dean ran from the rougarou. He really didn’t want his leg chewed on by a snarling monster today.

The fourth way to fix run-ons is to restructure the sentence. One of the more common ways of restructuring a sentence is to make one of the clauses subordinate to the other:

Bobby spiked another bottle of rotgut with holy water because his daddy had taught him it was always good to be prepared.

There is an exception for comma splices, though. In informal writing, such as dialog in fanfiction, it’s okay to have a comma splice if the two clauses are short and they’re closely related.

"Sam likes salad, I don’t," Dean said, eyeing the bacon cheeseburgers lustfully.

It’s important to remember that there’s no one right way to fix run-on sentences. Both the style of your writing and the kind of relationship you want to show between the independent clauses will dictate how you fix your run-ons (or, for some of your comma splices, whether you need to fix them at all).

Sources:
Garner’s Modern American Usage by Bryan Garner
Rules for Writers, 6th ed. by Diana Hacker

Comments

[diebirchen.livejournal.com]

There is one further wrinkle when using a semicolon to divide two independent clauses. The semicolon, of course, goes at the end of the first independent clause, but then a longer linking word can be used: moreover, however, additionally, consequently, etc. This becomes the introductory word of the second independent clause and, as such, is followed by a comma before the rest of the second clause.

I opted for the gorilla eyeball fritters; however, Clarice, gourmand that she is, chose the calves brains in black butter.

Those wretched Japanese beetles have group sex on my roses; moreover, they ain't got no couth!

[whymzycal.livejournal.com]

Indeed! (Curse those uncouth beetles!) I'd probably consider those examples as falling under the simple semicolon rule, though, since the howevers/additionallys/etc. would get a comma after them regardless of whether or not the independent clause they're introducing is attached to another independent clause.

[dark-weezing.livejournal.com]

Quite informative. Thank you.

[whymzycal.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!