by John W. Paulus

Created on: February 21, 2009   Last Updated: September 06, 2009

If you are going to be successful as a writer, you're going to have to learn to avoid common mistakes such as run on sentences. Run on sentences detract from your writing and they tell your reader that you don't have a mastery of the language.

On top of that, run on sentences can become very confusing for your readers, making it difficult for them to understand the idea that you are trying to put forward. Run on sentences can make it difficult for readers to follow your advice if you are recommending that they buy a product or a service. Run on sentences also make it difficult to follow instructions if you are trying to give them instructions on how to do something.

So, how do you avoid run on sentences?

The first thing that you need to do in order to avoid run on sentences is to learn to recognize what a run on sentence looks like. A run on sentence is typically longer than about ten words or so. A run on sentence also will have more than one verb in the sentence. This doesn't mean that every sentence with more than one verb will be a run on sentence, however it is definitely one the characteristics of a run on sentence.

Another tell-tale sign that you are using run on sentences is over use of conjunctions. Words like but, and, therefore and other conjunctions tend to provoke the writer into making sentences longer than what they should be. It is absolutely acceptable to use conjunctions in sentences, but be particularly aware of sentences that use multiple conjunctions.

Overuse of commas is also very common in run on sentences. If you find that a sentence contains more than one or two commas you may have a run on sentence. Of course, if the sentence contains a list, it may contain multiple commas and not be a run on sentence. Still, watching for overuse of commas is a great way to detect your own run on sentences.

Avoiding run on sentences in your writing is extremely important. Run on sentences is a very common writing mistake, and it can take away from your reader's trust of your writing. Gaining your readers trust is somewhat dependant on the quality of your writing.

In addition, the fewer words that you can use to get your message across will make that message that much more powerful. Learning to avoid run on sentences increases the marketability of your writing and it increases the chance that the message inside your writing is going to get through to your readers.

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