by Barbara Webber

Created on: July 22, 2009

As an English teacher two of the most common writing mistakes I see are run-on sentences, and overuse of the comma - which leads to run-on sentences. These mistakes make the writing difficult to read and can even change the meaning that was intended. Part of the problem is that we often write the way we speak and that is not always the best advice. If you have ever read an email or a message on a message board that was meant as a joke but taken seriously, then you know firsthand that writing is different than speaking. The other problem is that run-on sentences are very difficult to catch in our own writing. When you read back your own material, you already know what it is supposed to mean and what it should "sound" like. So it's easy to pass over those rambling, run-on sentences without hesitation. Knowing a little bit about sentence structure and grammar can go a long way in combating the run-on sentence problem.

First of all you must understand what a run-on sentence is. It is not simply a long sentence. A run-on sentence happens when two or more complete sentences are joined without proper punctuation. Often, run-ons can be corrected by simply adding the proper punctuation. Let's look at some examples.

Example A:

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a nutritious and delicious lunch many people would prefer a healthy PB & J to another type of sandwich any day of the week.

Example B:

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a nutritious and delicious lunch. Many people would prefer a healthy PB & J to another type of sandwich any day of the week.

In Example A we see that the sentence is a run-on. It joins two complete thoughts without any punctuation at all. In Example B the problem is corrected simply by adding a period where the two ideas separate. If you read Example A aloud more than once you will notice a natural pause between the two sentences. Reading aloud is a good way to check your own work for run-ons. You may need to read aloud more than once so that you can give it a chance to roll naturally. Then you will notice those pauses even if punctuation is lacking. Try this exercise to see what I mean.

Read the following passage aloud once.

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a nutritious and delicious lunch many people would prefer a healthy PB& J to another type of sandwich any day of the week, we tend to think of the PB&J as a children's lunch but it is packed with protein, vitamins, and

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