A fragment is an incomplete sentence: “Because the train was late.” A run-on sentence crams two main clauses together with no punctuation: “I love the beach I go every summer.”
A comma splice joins two main clauses with only a comma: “The film was long, it was also boring.”
There are four ways to fix run-ons and splices: use a full stop, a semicolon, a comma plus a coordinating conjunction (and, but, so) or a subordinating conjunction (because, although). Choose the one that shows the relationship between the ideas most clearly.
Worked example
Fix the comma splice: “The lights went out, everyone screamed.”
- Two main clauses are joined only by a comma.
- Show the cause with a subordinating conjunction.
Answer:When the lights went out, everyone screamed.
Key words
- fragment
- an incomplete sentence
- run-on
- two sentences joined with no punctuation
- comma splice
- two sentences joined only by a comma
Practise this
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