RUN-ON SENTENCES

Another very common error that writers make is to write run-on sentences. These are exactly what they sound like: two or more sentences (or thoughts) that have been jammed together and written as if they were one. You can check your writing for run-ons in the same way you check for sentence fragments: by reading aloud and by making sure that the sentence doesn’t attempt to say too much, all in one breath. Complex sentences, as you know, may contain more than one dependent clause, but sentences that contain more than one independent clause must include a connecting word (such as and or because) in order to be grammatically correct compound sentences. Careless writers include too many separate ideas, strung together with or without connecting words, in a single sentence.

Task 42: IDENTIFYING RUN-ON SENTENCES

Read the following sentences aloud and see how they sound. Which ones are correct sentences and which ones are run-ons?

1.Computers are very popular gifts for birthdays and holidays most kids love getting them.

2.It would be difficult to find a boy or a girl who wouldn’t love to get a computer as a gift.

3.Janey wanted to find a bargain she finally found one on the sale rack.

4.If you do a lot of careful shopping, both in local stores and on the Internet, you can usually find a bargain.

5.Holiday shopping is the time when bargains are easy to find Janey found this to be true.

Were you able to find the run-ons? They are sentences 1, 3, and 5. Sentences 2 and 4 are correct grammatical sentences. Can you now fix the three run-ons and make them into correct sentences?

TIP:Here are a few hints on how to avoid common sentence structure errors:

1.Check each sentence you write, carefully, for complete thoughts, and for the appropriate subject-predicate pairs.

2.Read each of your sentences aloud to see if your voice drops naturally at the end of the sentence. If it doesn’t, you’ve probably written a fragment.

3.Slow down. Rushing to get your work finished is a common trap, and very often the rush will produce sentence fragments and/or run-ons.

Key-vocabulary to Unit 2