Comma Splices: What Are They, and Why Should I Care?

Has someone told you that you’ve got a nasty habit for comma splices? Is your writing criticised for run-on sentences? Are you getting frustrated because you can’t see what’s wrong with them, let alone figure out how to fix them?

Welcome to the club. Comma splices are about as widespread in the written word as the comma itself, but they’re simple problems to fix, so it pays to learn how.

Here is your guide to comma splices: what they are, why they’re a problem, how to avoid them, and when it’s acceptable to use them.

Comma splices are sometimes known as run-on sentences, which is another way of saying that what should be two unique sentences run into each other, swap a period for a comma, and end up as one big disaster. It’s the kind of thing the average reader won’t pick up on, but it’ll drive splice-savvy readers crazy. Some consider them a type of run-on sentence; others see them as punctuation errors.

A clause is a group of words that contain a subject and a (finite) verb. An independent clause is one that can stand as a complete sentence.

You can’t use a comma to join two sentence-worthy clauses; it’s just not strong enough. That’s where the…