Run-On Sentences

By Ryan Howard

What is a Run-On Sentence?

A run-on sentence is a sentence in which two or more independent clauses are joined together without proper punctuation.

E.g. Josh walked to the refrigerator he got a snack. The sentence tells us that Josh went to the refrigerator,

but it continues with “he got a snack” without pausing. We have two different sentences.

Let’s take a look at a few more:

Marge is driving down the street she does not see us wave to her.

There are no blue whales in captivity they are too big.

Vegans get their protein from plant foods they eat no animal products.

I have never seen that movie can you rent it for me today?

How to Correct Run-Ons. One way to correct run-ons is put a period between the two

independent clauses to create two separate sentences.

Let’s look back on one of our sample sentences.Vegans get their protein from plant foods they eat no animal

products. A period could be added between “foods” and “they” to read something like this:

Vegans get their protein from plant foods. They eat no animal products. Now the confusion is gone and we have two coherent sentences.

Another example: There are no blue whales in captivity they are

too big. This sentence is too long and there should be punctuation somewhere in the middle.

There are no blue whales in captivity. They are too big. We now have two separate and shorter sentences.

Correct the Run-Ons

Using what you have learned in this lesson, try fixing the following run-on sentences.

1. I cannot sleep I am worried about the exam tomorrow.2. You cannot just sit there gawking at people you have

to start conversations with them.3. Joe returned from his trip to California he bought us

souvenirs.4. Ryan is an exceptional painter he had been doing so

for several years.

THE END