Run-on sentences

Run-on sentences, Fused Sentences, Comma Splices

 

Run-ons are essentially sentences that are awkwardly stuck together and are missing some of that crucial punctuation, like this one: Several coworkers were stealing supplies from the company they are going to be prosecuted.

How to fix this sentence:

1.     Divide into two sentences:

o   Several coworkers were stealing supplies from the company. They are going to be prosecuted.

2.     Use a comma followed by a logical coordinating conjunction (for, an, nor, but, or, yet, so) between statements:

o   Several coworkers were stealing supplies from the company, so they are going to be prosecuted.

3.     Use a subordinate conjunction (such as Because, Since, When, etc.) at the beginning, and then a comma between statements:

o   Because several coworkers were stealing supplies from the company, they are going to be prosecuted.

4.     Use a semi-colon between statements:

o   Several coworkers were stealing supplies from the company; they are going to be prosecuted.

5.     If the statements present opposing ideas, use a semicolon + however + a comma:

o   Several coworkers were stealing supplies from the company; however, they are not going to be prosecuted.

 

If your teacher marks fused sentence or run-on on your paper, it’s because you have put two complete thoughts or independent clauses together without the proper punctuation or any kind of sentence boundary. Here is an example:

There were a thousand zombies cheering for the home team when I walked onto the field I don’t think even one of them noticed me.

And, here is the corrected sentence:

There were a thousand zombies cheering for the home team when I walked onto the field; I don’t think even one of them noticed me.

The key is to remember that you must have some kind of boundary between your independent clauses. You can use punctuation, such as the period or the semicolon, or you can use a comma with a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet).

 

Please note that a comma splice is similar to a run-on except that instead of lacking punctuation, there is a lonely comma ineffectively separating the statements. Example: Several coworkers were stealing supplies from the company, they are going to be prosecuted. One of the above methods can be employed to correct comma splices, too.

Emergent writers might use run-ons and comma splices because it’s far too easy to write like we speak. Unfortunately, the written word isn’t the same thing as conversation. It doesn’t take non-verbal cues into consideration such as the use of time (those pesky pauses), emphasis (inflection), and so forth. While it can be hard to write formally, there is a cure for writing run-ons!

 

 

Polysyndetons

 

Polysyndeton is a rhetorical and literary technique in which a conjunction appears over and over again to join different thoughts in one sentence. To gain a better understanding of this technique, check out some polysyndeton examples from great works of writing.

The definition of polysyndeton is the repeated use of coordinating conjunctions to connect different items in a sentence. The repetition of conjunctions—and, but, or, nor—in close succession is a deliberate style choice to place emphasis on each listed word or phrase.

As one thought finishes, the next one is right behind, which can purposely overwhelm the reader. If a character is speaking excitedly or anxiously, polysyndeton can convey that feeling. Writers also use polysyndetons to create pauses in a sentence; this allows an emphasis on each of the series of words or thoughts to show that each one is equally important.

‘Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers.’

The best way to understand this literary technique is to read how writers have used it in literature. Here are six polysyndeton examples from great works of writing:

1.     1. Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son: Charles Dickens frequently used polysyndeton throughout his work. In this story, Dickens uses the literary device to emphasize disrepair in a town that is resistant to change. “There were frowzy fields, and cow-houses, and dunghills, and dustheaps, and ditches, and gardens, and summer-houses, and carpet-beating grounds, at the very door of the Railway.”

2.     2. Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Maya Angelou’s use of polysyndeton in her autobiography creates a metered rhythm similar to poetic verse. The conjunctions force the stress onto the next word. As Angelou lists out the privileges that white people have that black people don’t, it supports the intensity of her experience of racism and segregation in America.

3.     3. Ernest Hemingway, After the Storm: Hemingway uses polysyndeton to build anxiety in this short story by compounding multiple events into a stream of consciousness that parallels the chaotic scene. A character, breathless after a bar fight, is looking for his boat in the immediate aftermath of a devastating hurricane; he describes the scene in a run-on sentence, with brief image-heavy phrases linked by the conjunction “and.”

I said, ‘Who killed him?’ and he said, ‘I don’t know who killed him but he’s dead all right,’ and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Key and she was all right only she was full of water.

4.     4. William Shakespeare, Othello: Shakespeare uses polysyndeton when Othello lists the number of torturous ways to die as he tries to determine if his wife has been unfaithful. The compounding effect of this list emphasizes Othello’s anxiety: "If there be cords, or knives, or poison, or fire, or suffocating streams, I'll not endure it."

5.     5. James Goldman, The Lion in Winter: This theatrical play uses a dramatic example of polysyndeton. Queen Eleanor is lecturing her sons, referring to them as her piglets. To emphasize that humans are the origins of war, she lists forces that in themselves are not the cause of war, all linked by the conjunction “nor.”

6.     6. King James Bible: In England’s biblical translation, there are many examples of polysyndeton like this one: "And Joshua, and all of Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had."

 

Asyndeton is a list or a series in which no and is used at all, rather the items are separated by commas. Asyndeton has an effect that is quite different from polysyndeton's. If the effect of polysyndeton is to slow the reader down, the effect of asyndeton is most often the opposite: to speed the reader up. In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad describes the air as “thick, warm, heavy, sluggish,” creating a dense imagery.

 

A subordinating conjunction is a word or phrase that links a dependent clause to an independent clause. This word or phrase indicates that a clause has informative value to add to the sentence’s main idea, signaling a cause-and-effect relationship or a shift in time and place between the two clauses. for, as, since, though, due to, provided that, because of, unless, and so/so that; once, while, when, whenever, where, wherever, before, and after; although

A coordinating conjunction is defined as “a word such as or, and or but, that connects clauses or sentences of equal importance”. for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.

The best way to remember the seven coordinating conjunctions is by using the acronym FANBOYS:

For And Nor But Or Yet So