Identifying a run-on sentence
Run-on sentences occur when multiple independent clauses are combined in a single sentence without the proper punctuation or conjunctions.
⇒ Her car would not start she was late for class.
Here, the two independent clauses are:
- Her car would not start
- She was late for class
Correcting run-on sentences
⇒ Her car would not start she was late for class.
There are multiple ways we can approach correcting this sentence.
Using a period
Firstly, we could use a period to separate the clauses:
- Her car would not start. She was late for class.
Using a semicolon
We could also use a semicolon in the same manner:
- Her car would not start; she was late for class.
Using a comma and a conjunction
This method makes the most sense for this example, as it poses a "cause-and-effect" scenario.
- Her car would not start, so she was late for class.
Some other conjunctions include: therefore, and, because
Using a conjunction at the beginning of the sentence
This is similar to the previous rule, but the conjunction is now in a different place. We often have to change the conjunction to make the sentence make sense:
- Because her car would not start, she was late for class.