Last week was full of comma splices. I saw them in much of the writing I edited.
What’s a comma splice?
It’s when two independent clauses are joined with a comma. (An independent clause is a clause that can stand alone as a sentence.) A comma is not the correct punctuation that should connect two independent clauses.
Here’s an example of a comma splice:
The dog jumped over the fence, the cat stayed in the yard.
There are a few ways to revise this error.
Option one: Use two complete sentences.
The dog jumped over the fence. The cat stayed in the yard.
Option two: Add a coordinating conjunction and a comma.
The dog jumped over the fence, and the cat stayed in the yard.
Option three: Add a subordinate conjunction.
When the dog jumped over the fence, the cat stayed in the yard.
Option four: Add a semicolon.
The dog jumped over the fence; the cat stayed in the yard.
Why do comma splices matter to you? Because if you use them, your writing will be incoherent and will lack effective flow. Your readers will think you don’t know what you’re doing.
You don’t want a mess of disconnected ideas that will complicate your writing. Avoid comma splices.
