Run-on and on and on!

My friend (and fellow word geek) Lori suggested I dedicate this week’s entry to run-on sentences. I agreed, but as I sat down to write, I began to regret my decision.

You see, to address the issue of run-on sentences, one must also cover dependent and independent clauses, fragments, comma splices, coordinating conjunctions and – well, you get the idea. Frankly, this can of worms is better left to a class than a blog post, but since I’m committed (or should be); I will give you a basic overview of how to get control over your run-on sentences.

The first thing you need to know is that the length of a sentence has little to do with whether it is a run-on, as long as it is properly punctuated. There are different kinds of sentences that grammarians would call called run-ons, but for the sake of clarity, let’s just lump them all together.

Basically, a run-on is a sentence with two (or more) complete thoughts that are not joined correctly:

Lori made cookies she wouldn’t let me have one.

A little hard to read, isn’t it? That’s because there’s nothing to let you know when the first complete thought ends and the second one begins. So how can we fix it? Well, we can make the two clauses into two sentences by adding a period:

Lori made cookies. She wouldn’t let me have one.

But that sounds a little choppy, doesn’t it? Let’s try using a semi-colon to separate the clauses:

Lori made cookies; she wouldn’t let me have one.

Or, for a less formal tone, try using a coordinating conjunction:

Lori made cookies, but she wouldn’t let me have one. (Note the comma before the conjunction but.)

That’s better. It gives us a clear indication of separation between the clauses.

Giving your readers visual clues in the form of punctuation, not only helps them know when they should pause or stop, it also helps to convey the tone of a piece. Short, simple sentences tend to sound formal and uptight, while longer ones that combine clauses by using punctuation or connecting words, usually sound softer and more casual. Keep in mind, too, that varying the length and complexity of your sentences can help with the rhythm and flow of your piece.

So, if your sentence has more than one complete thought, consider rewriting it as two sentences. Or, use punctuation or connecting words to separate the clauses. See how simple that is? (And if you have any questions about comma splices or dependent clauses, let me know.)

And to learn more about Lori and see her fabulous Web site, visit
www.wardrobewisdom.com.

Write on!