12/13/2023 0 Comments Comma splice and run on sentences![]() Once you put in the comma, you immediately take away the possible question in the readers mind about what the relationship might be between “the store” and “the heat” because the comma indicates, sort of, “new thought starting here.” The reader knows that the noun “the heat” is the subject of something, starting a whole new section of the sentence. One, certainly, is that since “store” is a noun, and “heat” is a noun, if there is no comma, the reader is left wondering what exactly the relationship is between “store” and “heat.” This is because nouns can modify (give information about) other nouns. Why is this? There are logical, common sense reasons for it. The comma is probably not strong enough to hold two sentences together. I walked down to the store, the heat was getting to me. If you separate these two complete sentences with a comma, you have a type of run-on called a comma splice: Put them together, though, without proper punctuation, and you have a run-on. “The heat was getting to me” is another great sentence. “I walked down to the store” is a perfectly fine sentence. I walked down to the store the heat was getting to me. Run-on sentences happen when two complete sentences (independent clauses) are put together incorrectly: In the second sentence, “cow” is no longer the subject, because the word “because” has come in and made that whole clause from “because” to “away” into a dependent clause, a trailer, needing a hitch. In the above examples, the main (simple) subject is underlined, and the verb is in italics. The big brown cow walked quickly and quietly away.īecause the big, brown cow walked quickly and quietly away, I didn’t need to run away in terror from it. Sentence fragments are fixed by either adding the missing words or hooking the fragment onto a sentence that comes before it or after it in the paragraph. It needs a simple sentence (independent clause) to hitch to. That part of the sentence needs something with an engine (main subject and governing verb) to hook up to before it can go anywhere. These are words that turn levers in brains to indicate some sort of connection is coming, like a trailer with a hitch. Other words that create fragments when added to the beginning of sentences include other subordinating conjunctions and coordinating conjunctions (lists of these are at the end of the section). ![]() The addition of the subordinating conjunction “because” creates an incomplete thought. ![]() Thus, it cannot be the subject, even though it is a noun.īecause the big, brown cow walked quickly and quietly away. But in this case, it is part of the prepositional phrase that tells where the walking is towards. ![]() What or who walked? Notice that the word “rabbit” is a noun and can, in its own sentence, be the subject. There is no subject in this group of words. Walked quickly and quietly away towards the rabbit. \)įragments occur when the sentence is missing the subject and/or verb and/or it’s an incomplete thought: ![]()
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