Run-on Sentences

what this particular piece of bad grammar actually...is.

While some people think that run-on sentences are just long...

...like, really, really, really long...

...a run-on sentence actually occurs when sentences are smashed together without the benefit of

any internal punctuation.

Run-on sentences may induce confusion...

...hysteria...

...and even the urge to throw books...

...so use extreme caution when constructing sentences.

The nice thing about run-on sentences is that they are easily fixed, and we have a whole

slew of tools to choose from...

...including colons, coordinating conjunctions, dashes, periods, and semicolons.

So, let's look at some examples of run-on sentences and how to fix 'em.

Say we have the run-on sentence, "William Faulkner is a well-known American author he

lived in Mississippi for most of his life you can visit his house in Oxford and see

where he scribbled all over the bathroom wall."

How can we fix this crime against grammar? Not to mention against poor Mr. Faulkner?

Well, we could deploy several periods, so we end up with...

..."William Faulkner is a well-known American author...period...He lived in Mississippi for

most of his life...period...You can visit his house in Oxford and see where he scribbled

all over the bathroom wall."

Or, we could deploy some periods and a well-placed "who" to get...

..."William Faulkner is a well-known American author who lived in Mississippi for most of

his life...period...You can visit his house in Oxford and see where he scribbled all over

the bathroom wall." Let's look at a different example. "Jim

is a fan of Cormac McCarthy's novels however he had a big problem when he tried to read

The Crossing half of that book is written in Spanish."

Well, let's fix this grammar disaster.

We could do this: "Jim is a big fan of Cormac McCarthy's novels...period...However...comma...

he had a big problem when he tried to read The Crossing...colon...half of that book is

written in Spanish."

Or, we could do this: "Jim is a fan of Cormac McCarthy's novels...comma...although he had

a big problem when he tried to read The Crossing...dash...half of that book is written in Spanish."

Or, we could try door number 3: "Jim is a fan of Cormac McCarthy's novels...period...

However...comma...he had a problem when he tried to read The Crossing because half of

that book is written in Spanish." Run-on sentences can be difficult for the

reader to comprehend.

So, while most of us will never have a really good reason to deploy a run-on sentence...

...this doesn't mean we won't encounter run-on sentences in literature.

For example, take this lengthy entry from James Joyce's novel, Ulysses...

"I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian

girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I

thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes..."

Let's stop right there. That's fifty-eight words without the benefit of any internal

punctuation, and while that may seem like a lot...

...the truth is that Joyce's sentence actually continues for another fifty-three words. Holy

moly. That gives us a total of one hundred and eleven words, no pauses, no stop until

the very end. While we could never get away with writing

like this...

...because our English teachers would lynch us...

...great authors with lots of critical acclaim and assorted Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes might

decide that a particular story calls for run-on sentences.

So, unless the literary critics start calling us "the next Ernest Hemingway", we need

to stick to proper internal punctuation...

...and avoid run-on sentences.