Comma SplicesComma Splices

Comma

Splices

How to use Commas

What is a Comma Splice?

What is a Comma Splice?

The good news is that it's easy to fix a comma splice once you're aware of the problem. Because the two clauses are complete sentences, you can treat them that way and use a period where you had a comma.

Sara obviously named that one. She was a sucker for those old “Happy Days” reruns.

It's a period's job to separate complete sentences.

How to use a semicolon to fix a comma splice

If the two sentences are closely related to each other, as they are in the sentence from Ancestor, you can use a semicolon to connect them without a coordinating conjunction.

Sara obviously named that one; she was a sucker for those old “Happy Days” reruns.

The semicolon makes sense because the second clause expands on the reasoning of the first clause. He's saying that it's obvious that Sara named the cow because she liked “Happy Days” reruns and the cow is named after a “Happy Days” character. (Want more? See Episode 189, How to Use Semicolons.)

You can think of a semicolon as a “sentence splicer” because its job is to splice complete sentences together.

How to Use Coordinating Conjunctions to Fix a Comma Splice

Sometimes, you can also fix a comma splice by adding a coordinating conjunction. It doesn't work with the example sentence from Ancestor because it doesn't make any sense to add an “and” or any of the other coordinating conjunctions. It changes the meaning to say Sara obviously named that one, and she was a sucker for those old “Happy Days” reruns.

But if I go back to the other sentence with a comma splice—Squiggly ran to the forest, Aardvark chased the peeves—you can see that it makes sense to connect those two sentences with a coordinating conjunction and a comma.

Squiggly ran to the forest, and Aardvark chased the peeves.

How to Use Coordinating Conjunctions to Fix a Comma Splice

Let's take one more of Scott's mangled sentences and see if we can fix it!

This one is from page 29, where he's explaining how one of the characters lured in investors for his evil plan.

They were getting it, he had them. (wrong)

So in the comma splice repair kit, we've got periods, semicolons, and coordinating conjunctions.

The period definitely works: They were getting it. He had them.

The semicolon works because the two clauses are related: They were getting it; he had them.

And in this case we can add a coordinating conjunction to fix the problem too: They were getting it, and he had them.

Run-on and on and on and on…

A RUN-ON SENTENCE (sometimes called a "fused sentence") has at least two parts, either one of which can stand by itself (in other words, two independent clauses), but the two parts have been smooshed together instead of being properly connected.

It is important to realize that the length of a sentence really has nothing to do with whether a sentence is a run-on or not; being a run-on is a structural flaw that can plague even a very short sentence:

The sun is high, put on some sunblock.

Run-on and on and on and on..

Run-ons, comma splices, and fused sentences are all names given to compound sentences that are not punctuated correctly. The best way to avoid such errors is to punctuate compound sentences correctly by using one or the other of these rules.

1. Join the two independent clauses with one of the coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet), and use a comma before the connecting word.

_________________________, and _________________________.

He enjoys walking through the country, and he often goes backpacking on his vacations.

2. When you do not have a connecting word (or when you use a connecting word other than and, but, for, or nor, so, or yet between the two independent clauses) use a semicolon (;).

__________________________;_____________________________.

He often watched TV when there were only reruns; she preferred to read instead.

or

__________________________; however,____________________.

He often watched TV when there were only reruns; however, she preferred to read instead.

So, run-ons and fused sentences are terms describing two independent clauses which are joined together with no connecting word or punctuation to separate the clauses.

Incorrect: They weren't dangerous criminals they were detectives in disguise.

Correct: They weren't dangerous criminals; they were detectives in disguise.

Incorrect: I didn't know which job I wanted I was too confused to decide.

Correct: I didn't know which job I wanted, and I was too confused to decide.

I am a woman I am a trucker. (Incorrect)

I am a woman. I am a truck driver. (correct)

If you want to keep more of a connection between the two thoughts, you could use a semicolon and write, I am a woman; I am a truck driver.

If you want to make more of a comment on the connection between the two sentences, then you could use a conjunction with a comma. For example, you could write, I am a woman, and I am a truck driver, or you could write, I am a woman, yet I am a truck driver.

If you wanted to get fancy, you could use a conjunctive adverb with a semicolon and a comma: I am a woman; nevertheless, I am a truck driver.

There are even more ways to fix run-on sentences, depending on the relationship between the different clauses; for example, you could use a colon if the first clause introduces the second clause, but my main point is that you have to use something to connect two clauses that could be complete sentences on their own. You can't just fuse them together. If you do, that's an error called a run-on sentence.

Directions: Correct each comma splice or run-on by retyping the sentence in the shaded box. Be sure to punctuate correctly.  1. The program itself was broken down into four semesters, each lasted for 10 weeks.           2. My great-grandfather had four sons in order for him to survive he opened his own business as a lumber jack.           3. People do not want to look the same or act the same as others they want to be their own person. One thing is clear in our society, people want their individuality they do not want to be just another Joe Public.           4. Malik is getting an education and all he must do is run, sounds like a fair trade.           5. Today my brother and I get along, but not as well as I would like to, I don't think I can be close to him.           

     

Part IIDirections: Most comma splices and run-ons occur in paragraph form. Proofread the following short essay and correct the run-ons and comma splices in any way you choose by retyping the paragraph in the shaded box.

The term espionage evokes the name Mata Hari a woman convicted of spying for the Germans during World War I.      Gertrud Margarete Zelle was a Dutch exotic dancer and prostitute, who took Mata Hari as her stage name. The daughter of a wealthy hatter, Gertrud attended teacher’s college then married Captain Campbell MacLeod. The marriage did not last in 1905 she began dancing on the Paris stage, first as “Lady MacLeod” then as Mata Hari. Her popularity as a dancer stemmed from her attractiveness and willingness to appear almost nude on stage. As a dancer, she cultivated numerous affairs with man, including military officers.      

Although the circumstances of her spying activities are unclear it was alleged that while in The Hague in 1906 she was offered cash by a German consul for information gained during her next visit to France. Mata Hari admitted she passed outdated information to a German intelligence officer also claimed she had been paid as a French spy in Belgium thus making herself a double agent.      

Whatever her intrigues, Mata Hari was arrested on February 13, 1917 in Paris tried by a military court. Found guilty of the deaths of as many as 50,000 because of her alleged spying she was sentenced to death Mata Hari was shot by a firing squad on October 15, 1917 she was 41.     History is unclear if she was a spy to many she was an unfortunate victim of an hysterical French press and a public determined to find an enemy within, even if one did not exist, and she was an easy scapegoat given her profession.      

In-Text Citations:

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence.

In-Text Citations:

Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263).

Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).

Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).

Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth.

In-Text Citations:

If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. London: Oxford U.P., 1967. Print.

In-Text Citations:

For Print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.

Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3). Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).

In-Text Citations:

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name. Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (e.g. articles) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire websites) and provide a page number.

We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has “more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change . . . ” (“Impact of Global Warming” 6).

In-Text Citations:

Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if two or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or even the authors' full name if different authors share initials) in your citation. For example:

Although some medical ethicists claim that cloning will lead to designer children (R. Miller 12), others note that the advantages for medical research outweigh this consideration (A. Miller 46).

In-Text Citations:

For a source with three or fewer authors, list the authors' last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:

Smith, Yang, and Moore argue that tougher gun control is not needed in the United States (76).

The authors state "Tighter gun control in the United States erodes Second Amendment rights" (Smith, Yang, and Moore 76).

In-Text Citations:

If you cite more than one work by a particular author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others.

Lightenor has argued that computers are not useful tools for small children ("Too Soon" 38), though he has acknowledged elsewhere that early exposure to computer games does lead to better small motor skill development in a child's second and third year ("Hand-Eye Development" 17).

In-Text Citations:

Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, you would format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, followed, when appropriate, by page numbers:

Visual studies, because it is such a new discipline, may be "too easy" (Elkins, "Visual Studies" 63).

In-Text Citations:

Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited in another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:

Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259).

Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source.

In-Text Citations:

When a Citation Is Not Needed

Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations or common knowledge. Remember, this is a rhetorical choice, based on audience. If you're writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for example, they'll have different expectations of what constitutes common knowledge.

It’s always better to be safe though and protect yourself by giving credit to the author.

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