Warm Up Explain what’s wrong with the following sentences: The player who never came to practice. He took his parents car without permission so they grounded him for a month. The girls never really got along, they didn’t sit near each other in lunch.

Fixing Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices

Comma Splices A comma splice happens when you have two complete thoughts/sentences together and only a comma between them: I looked towards the crowd, I could not see any face clearly because of the lights.

Run-on Sentences Run-on Sentences are sentences that have two sentences linked together with a conjunction (and, but, or, so, yet, for, etc.), but they do not have a comma. I looked towards the crowd but I could not see any face clearly because of the lights.

Fixing Comma Splices and Run-ons Although these are different errors, fixing them basically involves the same solutions: Make the two sentences separate by adding a period. Make sure you have a comma AND a conjunction between the two sentences. Use a semi-colon between the two sentences.

Using Semi-colons to Fix Sentences There are two basic ways semi-colons can fix run-ons and comma splices: Use a semi-colon between the two sentences, just like a period. I looked towards the crowd; I could not see any face clearly because of the lights. 2. Use a semi-colon and a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, moreover, etc.) I looked towards the crowd; however, I could not see any face clearly because of the lights.

Fix the Following Problems John left his keys at school so he was locked out when he got home. Tara could not stand the heat of the building, she went outside and missed the meeting. The coach could not get his team to win, however, he did manage to have a positive influence on the players.