– What is a run-on sentence?

A run-on sentence is actually two sentences fused together. Every sentence has 3 main parts–a subject (e.g., I, you, Dave, the bus), a predicate verb (e.g., ran, coughed, stumbled, honked), and a complete idea.

From the parenthetical examples above, you can make several complete sentences:I ran.
You coughed.
Dave stumbled. [A longer sentence can say that he stumbled over something specific]
The bus honked. [A longer sentence might specify what the bus honked at]

A “fused” or run-on sentence occurs when two or more of these sentences are joined together, e.g., “Dave stumbled the bus honked I ran.”

A clearer sentence that fully conveys one possible situation is: “Dave stumbled on a pebble in the crosswalk, and the bus honked at him. I ran to help him.”

It is easier to catch run-ons if you read your writing aloud–you will hear the gaps where missing information needs to be in your sentence(s). For a more elaborate grammatical explanation, see here; and you can find a good evaluation of how punctuation can affect your tone in writing if you scroll to the bottom of this explanation.

Posted in: Grammar