Another mistake in sentence construction is a run-on sentence. The term run-on simply means that your sentence has at least two complete thoughts (two independent clauses, if your mind thinks that way), but it lacks the necessary punctuation between the thoughts. This punctuation is needed for readers to know when one thought stops and another begins. Consider the following sentence:

Say what? Instead of having the needed punctuation between begins and if, the sentence, well, “runs on” and its meaning is unclear. (A fairly simple concept, wouldn't you say?)

It's Time to Take a Break: Fused Sentences and Comma Splices

One type of run-on, called a fused sentence, occurs when two or more sentences are written (fused) together without a punctuation mark to show readers where the break occurs. Take a look at this sentence:

This sentence has two separate thoughts:

This sentence needs some punctuation to tell readers where one thought ends and another begins. You may do this in one of three ways:

• by creating two separate sentences (For our annual picnic, Chris Doss and Brad Cummings brought hamburgers. We brought potato salad.)

• by inserting a semicolon (For our annual picnic, Chris Doss and Brad Cummings brought hamburgers; we brought potato salad.)

• by inserting a comma and one of seven conjunctions — but, or, yet, so, for, and, nor (remember boysfan?) (For our annual picnic, Chris Doss and Brad Cummings brought hamburgers, and we brought potato salad.)

Another type of run-on is a comma splice (comma fault), a sentence that has two complete thoughts that are joined (spliced together) by just a comma. The problem with a comma splice is that the comma should be replaced by something else — a different punctuation mark, additional words, or both. Take a look at this sentence:

On either side of the comma, you have a complete thought. The punctuation code says that you need something stronger than just a comma to help readers understand that a thought has been completed.

You have several choices to correct the sentence. You could create two separate sentences by using a period:

Another option is to separate the two complete thoughts with a semicolon:

A third choice is to separate the two complete thoughts with a semicolon and a connecting word or phrase:

Or you could join the two sentences by leaving in the comma but adding one of the seven boysfan conjunctions (but, or, yet, so, for, and, nor). Of course, you may use the conjunctions only if the sentence makes sense. You may have:

Another way you can correct either a fused sentence or a comma splice is to reword the sentence so that one part becomes subordinate (that is, it can't stand alone as a complete thought). Let's look at the first example:

You might reword this in a number of ways:

or

Yes, this one sounds really stuffy, and you probably wouldn't use it because of its style — but it does make sense.

Now look at the second example:

You could rewrite it in this way:

or

In each of these examples the first part of the rewritten sentence (the part before the comma) couldn't stand alone as a sentence.