Teaching Writing – Fix Run On Sentences
Main Idea
Run on sentences, a common problem in first drafts, are easy to fix with two possible solutions. Once English students learn the meaning of run on sentence they will be able to find and repair those errors by themselves. Therefore, studying run on sentences helps ESL students develop the skills they need to become independent English writers.
What is a Run On Sentence?
A run on sentence happens when two independent clauses have not been joined in the right way. What’s an independent clause?
An independent clause is a group of words which have a subject and a verb and can be a full sentence by themselves. This is different from a dependent clause, which is a group of words that cannot be a full sentence by themselves.
Here is an example of a run on sentence.
- My mother likes to cook and she cooks delicious cakes and cookies and I love the smell of the house whenever she is baking something it makes my mouth water.
This example sentence has four independent clauses:
- My mother likes to cook.
- She cooks delicious cakes and cookies.
- I love the smell of the house whenever she is baking something.
- It makes my mouth water.
Fix a Run On Sentence
There are three ways to fix run-on sentences: (Note 1)
- use a period and a capital letter to separate independent clauses (i.e. make a simple sentences);
- use a comma with a coordinating conjunction (i.e. FANBOYS – for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so);
- use a subordinate conjunction (e.g. because, since, etc.) at the beginning (with a comma) or in the middle of the sentence (with no comma).
Here is the above sentence corrected with commas, a subordinate conjunction (because) and a couple of word changes.
Old Sentence
- My mother likes to cook and she cooks delicious cakes and cookies and I love the smell of the house whenever she is baking something it makes my mouth water.
New Sentence
- My mother likes to cook. Her cakes and cookies are delicious. I love the smell of the house whenever she is baking something because it makes my mouth water.
More Details and Examples
Here are two more examples of run on sentences. They show two kinds of problems.
- The high school student decided to go on a diet he didn’t want to be fat anymore.
- The Spanish test was postponed because of the typhoon, the art class was cancelled too.
Both are run on sentences for different reasons.
- The first sentence has two independent clauses improperly joined with no punctuation. That’s called a fused sentence.
- The second sentence tries to separate two independent clauses with a comma. That’s wrong. That’s called a comma splice.
Let’s look at some ways to correct these run on sentences.
- The high school student decided to go on a diet. He didn’t want to be fat anymore. (period and capital letter)
- The high school student didn’t want to be fat anymore, so he decided to go on a diet. (coordinating conjunction with a comma)
- The high school student decided to go on a diet because he didn’t want to be fat anymore. (subordinate conjunction and no comma)
- Because the high school student didn’t want to be fat anymore, he decided to go on a diet. (subordination plus comma)
- The Spanish test was postponed because of the typhoon. The art class was cancelled, too. (period and capital letter)
- The Spanish test was postponed, and the art class was cancelled because of the typhoon. (coordinating conjunction with comma)
- The art class was cancelled when the Spanish test was postponed because of the typhoon. (subordinate conjunction and no comma)
- When the Spanish test was postponed because of the typhoon, the art class was cancelled, too. (subordination plus comma)
Download Worksheets: Proofreading Exercises
Download the worksheets. The questions help ESL students improve writing and editing skills by learning how to notice and fix run on sentences.
- Worksheet 1 – run on sentences
- Worksheet 2 – run on sentences in paragraphs
Note: Semicolons – ; – can be used to fix run on sentences but they are not common these days.
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