Spotting a Run-on Sentence

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Topic 1: Spotting a Run-on Sentence

Run-on sentences are made up of two independent clauses that have been connected incorrectly. But what makes a clause independent?

 

An independent clause is a complete thought. It should contain a subject and a verb. In some instances, the verb will also require an object.

  • Subject: Who and what the sentence is referring to. This is usually a noun or a pronoun.
    • Noun: a person, place, thing, or idea.
    • Pronoun: Substitutes for nouns – he, she, it, I, you.
  • Verb: What the subject of the sentence does or is. This can be an action verb or non-action verb.
    • Action verbs: Jump, shout, run, dance.
    • Non-action verbs: is, are, was, were, am.
  • Object: A person or thing affected by the action of the verb.

This chart demonstrates the parts of an independent clause:

Subject Verb Object
bought  textbooks. 

What a run-on sentence is:

Now that we know what independent clauses are, we are ready to address run-ons themselves. As we mentioned on the previous page, run-on sentences result from two or more independent clauses being connected together without the proper punctuation between them.

There are two main types of run-on sentences: Fused sentences and comma splices.

 Fused sentences occur when there are two or more independent clauses joined together without any punctuation.

  • Example: Jane Austen published novels anonymously Jane Austen wrote six novels in her lifetime

There are two complete sentences in the example above!

  • Sentence #1: Jane Austen published novels anonymously.
  • Sentence #2: Jane Austen wrote six novels in her lifetime.

A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are attached with only a comma.

  • Example: Jane Austen published novels anonymously, she wrote six novels in her lifetime.

Again, there are two sentences in this example.

  • Sentence #1: Jane Austen published novels anonymously.
  • Sentence #2: She wrote six novels in her lifetime.
Your Turn: Test Your Understanding

That was a lot of information! Think you have a grasp of it? Test yourself!

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