“Run-on” sentences are just compound sentences gone wrong. Like very wrong. You could also say that “run-on” sentences consist of too many ideas and thoughts without the proper punctuation. If “compound sentences” and “dependent vs. independent clauses” don’t ring a bell, make sure to check out one of our previous articles here.
Continue reading to find out how to recognize run-on sentences and especially how to fix them!
How To Recognize a Run-On Sentence
To create proper compound sentences, you need two or more independent and/or dependent clauses and join them together by conjunctions, commas, or semicolons. If you leave out the joining elements and simply write (independent/dependent) clause after clause in “one run”, then you just created a “run-on sentence,” and that’s exactly what you don’t want. There are precisely three types of run-ons:
- Comma Splices
- Fused Sentences
- Polysyndetons
Comma Splice
I wake up at 4:30 a.m. every day to go to the gym, a consistent workout is important to me.
The sentence above consists of two independent clauses that are improperly joined with a comma, hence the name “comma splice.”
Fused Sentences
Beth didn’t know which dessert she should order she was too excited to decide.
Again, we’ve got two independent clauses that are, unlike a comma splice, written together without any punctuation or conjunction to separate them.
Polysyndeton
He went to Rome and had breakfast next to the Colosseum and had lunch near to botanical garden and hiked to the Pantheon to enjoy the remarkable architecture.
A “polysyndeton” is the term for the over-excessive use of conjunctions to extend a sentence’s length. Especially conjunction words like “and” are often over-used.
How To Fix Run-On Sentences
The best way to avoid run-ons is to use proper punctuation. Luckily, there are some simple rules you can and should follow. Let’s take another look at the examples from above:
Comma Splice
I wake up at 4:30 a.m. every day to go to the gym, a consistent workout is important to me.
The comma here doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to be. Since we’ve got two clauses here that don’t depend on each other to “make sense” (“independent clauses”), we’ve got three options to fix the error here:
Adding “and” right after the comma:
I wake up at 4:30 a.m. every day to go to the gym, and a consistent workout is important to me.
Adding a different conjunction word instead of a comma + “and”:
I wake up at 4:30 a.m. every day to go to the gym because a consistent workout is important to me.
Splitting up the clauses into two separate sentences:
I wake up at 4:30 a.m. every day to go to the gym. A consistent workout is important to me.
Replacing the comma with a semicolon:
I wake up at 4:30 a.m. every day to go to the gym; a consistent workout is important to me.
Fused Sentences
Beth didn’t know which dessert she should order she was too excited to decide.
Again, we’ve got two independent clauses here that are, however, not separated at all. Meaning, there’s not even a comma or any other kind of punctuation. But just like with comma splices, you can use the same tactics to correct the mistake:
Adding “and” right after the comma:
I wake up at 4:30 a.m. every day to go to the gym, and a consistent workout is important to me.
Adding a different conjunction word instead of a comma + “and”:
Beth didn’t know which dessert she should order because she was too excited to decide.
Splitting up the clauses into two separate sentences:
Beth didn’t know which dessert she should order. She was too excited to decide.
Replacing the comma with a semicolon:
Beth didn’t know which dessert she should order; she was too excited to decide.
Polysyndeton
He went to Rome and had breakfast next to the Colosseum and he had lunch near to botanical garden and hiked to the Pantheon to enjoy the remarkable architecture.
Fixing polysyndetons is relatively easy. Simply divide the extended sentence into separate sentences and add a “splash” of punctuation:
Remove most of the “ands” and add an “Oxford comma” before the last “and”:
He went to Rome, had breakfast next to the Colosseum, had lunch near the botanical garden, and hiked to the Pantheon to enjoy the remarkable architecture.
Splitting up statement into two separate sentences:
He went to Rome and had breakfast next to the Colosseum. He had lunch near to botanical garden and hiked to the Pantheon to enjoy the remarkable architecture.
Removing the 2nd “and” and using a semicolon instead:
He went to Rome and had breakfast next to the Colosseum; he had lunch near to botanical garden and hiked to the Pantheon to enjoy the remarkable architecture.