Run-ons - Comma Splices - Fused Sentences

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Run-ons, comma splices, and fused sentences are all names given to compound sentences that are not punctuated correctly. The best way to avoid such errors is to punctuate compound sentences correctly by using one or the other of these rules.

1. Join the two independent clauses with one of the coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet), and use a comma before the connecting word.

_________________________, and _________________________.

He enjoys walking through the country, and he often goes backpacking on his vacations.

2. When you do not have a connecting word (or when you use a connecting word other than and, but, for, or nor, so, or yet between the two independent clauses) use a semicolon (;).

__________________________;_____________________________.

He often watched TV when there were only reruns; she preferred to read instead.

__________________________; however,____________________.

He often watched TV when there were only reruns; however, she preferred to read instead.

So, run-ons and fused sentences are terms describing two independent clauses that are joined together with no connecting word or punctuation to separate the clauses.

INCORRECT: They weren't dangerous criminals they were detectives in disguise.

CORRECT: They weren't dangerous criminals; they were detectives in disguise.

INCORRECT: I didn't know which job I wanted I was too confused to decide.

CORRECT: I didn't know which job I wanted, and I was too confused to decide.