Starting this month, I will start releasing grammar tips in my digital magazine, ‘Hold On,’ to help aspiring writers become better writers. From my years of editing experience, I bring some advice of common mistakes I catch when editing work from other authors.
This month, I talk about the comma splice.
When you join two independent clauses with just a comma and no conjunction, it’s called a comma splice. Editors sometimes label these incidences as run-on sentences or a punctuation error. This is a common grammatical error in writing, especially since many writers are conversational writers (meaning that they write as though they are talking).
When you join two independent clauses to make one sentence, you need to understand what exactly an independent clause is first to avoid comma splices.
An independent clause is a complete sentence that can stand on its own grammatically, meaning it must have both a subject and a verb.
On the flip side, a dependent clause begins with a word meant to connect it to another sentence. Therefore, if this sentence were to stand alone, it is incomplete.
Thus, to fix a comma splice, either connect the two independent clauses with a semicolon, add a conjunction, or make each independent clause its own sentence.
Want to see some examples?
Check out the August edition of ‘Hold On‘ to read more about how to fix a comma splice and some examples. If you haven’t signed up for my newsletter yet, you can get access to read my digital magazine here.