07-29-2011, 01:34 AM
[COLOR="#000000"]How to Avoid Run-On Sentences
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Writers trying to hone their skills often live in fear of the dreaded run-on sentence. A run-on sentence is a sentence with multiple distinct ideas crammed together into one very long sentence. Having run-ons in your writing can look untidy, and even be difficult to read. It can be difficult to spot a run-on sentence unless you know what you're looking for, but there are a few basic indicators and fixes you can try the next time you're writing.
Instructions
1
Read through your writing aloud. Written and spoken word are very similar, although written word tends to be more formal through practice. Run-on sentences tend to be sentences that go on and on. Take a second look at any sentence that requires more than one breath to say. Even if it isn't a run-on sentence grammatically, you can probably break it down into smaller ideas.
2
Check that suspicious looking sentences are made up of only one independent clause and dependent clauses. An independent clause is a part of a sentence -- use commas to separate the parts of a sentence -- that contains a subject and a predicate that modifies the subject. For example, in the sentence "The dog is brown," "the dog" is the subject and it is modified by "is brown" to be a brown dog.
3
Use commas and FANBOYS to separate independent clauses in a single sentence. FANBOYS is an acronym that stands for "For-And-Nor-But-Or-Yet-So." The FANBOYS are conjunctions -- words that join clauses together -- that can be used to make your writing sound more natural. Avoid having more than one independent clause in a single sentence as a general practice. However, sometimes two independent clauses are closely related enough that they bear using together. For example, "Eric has a new car, but the engine is already cracked."
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Writers trying to hone their skills often live in fear of the dreaded run-on sentence. A run-on sentence is a sentence with multiple distinct ideas crammed together into one very long sentence. Having run-ons in your writing can look untidy, and even be difficult to read. It can be difficult to spot a run-on sentence unless you know what you're looking for, but there are a few basic indicators and fixes you can try the next time you're writing.
Instructions
1
Read through your writing aloud. Written and spoken word are very similar, although written word tends to be more formal through practice. Run-on sentences tend to be sentences that go on and on. Take a second look at any sentence that requires more than one breath to say. Even if it isn't a run-on sentence grammatically, you can probably break it down into smaller ideas.
2
Check that suspicious looking sentences are made up of only one independent clause and dependent clauses. An independent clause is a part of a sentence -- use commas to separate the parts of a sentence -- that contains a subject and a predicate that modifies the subject. For example, in the sentence "The dog is brown," "the dog" is the subject and it is modified by "is brown" to be a brown dog.
3
Use commas and FANBOYS to separate independent clauses in a single sentence. FANBOYS is an acronym that stands for "For-And-Nor-But-Or-Yet-So." The FANBOYS are conjunctions -- words that join clauses together -- that can be used to make your writing sound more natural. Avoid having more than one independent clause in a single sentence as a general practice. However, sometimes two independent clauses are closely related enough that they bear using together. For example, "Eric has a new car, but the engine is already cracked."
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