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A 'run-on sentence' is a sentence in which two or more independent clauses are joined without punctuation or conjunctions. It is not, as is commonly thought, simply a very long sentence; a properly punctuated sentence can be correctly extended almost indefinitely. Some modern authors have used run-on sentences knowingly for effect, but they are considered punctuation errors. For example:
:''It is nearly half past five we cannot reach town before dark.''
There are several acceptable ways to correct this:

★ Insert a semicolon between the clauses:
:''It is nearly half past five; we cannot reach town before dark.''

★ Write the two clauses as two separate sentences:
:''It is nearly half past five. We cannot reach town before dark.''

★ Insert a comma and a conjunction between the clauses:
:''It is nearly half past five, and we cannot reach town before dark.''
It is not correct to simply insert a comma between the clauses; this results in a comma splice.
(Examples adapted from the online 1918 edition of ''The Elements of Style.)''

Contents

See also

External links

See also

★ Comma splice

★ It was a dark and stormy night

External links

★ The Grammar Outlaw: The Run-On Sentence

★ ''The Elements of Style'': full text of Strunk's 1918 edition