CENTER FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
COMMA SPLICES
DEFINITION
Comma splices occur when a writer places a comma between two complete sentences, or independent clauses. Writers sometimes make this error because the independent clauses are close in meaning. For example, she might write "Ellis wanted you to come over, he even baked cookies." The comma is not a strong enough mark of punctuation to connect complete sentences, however, so the sentence above is a comma splice.
Splice Repair: There are three ways to fix a comma splice--and they are easy to remember because they rhyme: Punctuate, Coordinate, Subordinate.
The first step in comma splice repair is, of course, to identify the problem. Read the words on each side of the comma to be sure it really is a complete thought. In the example above, both ideas are complete, so now that we have determined that there is something wrong, let's look at the first way we can go about fixing it. We can change the punctuation to a period or a semicolon: Ellis wanted you to come over; he even baked cookies. In this case, the semicolon is a good choice because the sentences are close in meaning.
Another solution: we could employ a coordinating conjunction. The coordinating conjunctions are words that link phrases or clauses equally, words like or, and, but and yet. Our sentence could read Ellis wanted you to come over, and he even baked cookies. Or Ellis wanted you to come over, so he even baked cookies. Notice that if we add a coordinating conjunction, we leave the comma in the sentence. Remember to use a comma between complete sentences joined with a comma.
Finally, we could change one of the independent clauses to a dependant clause by using a subordinating conjunction. These conjunctions also link phrases or clauses, but they form an unequal relationship between the ideas they link. These are words like since, when, because, if and as. We could fix the comma splice in a number of ways if we choose to subordinate one of the ideas: Ellis wanted you to come over, if he even baked cookies. Or Because Ellis wanted you to come over, he even baked cookies. Notice that the meaning shifts a bit depending on the clause we chose to subordinate and which conjunction we chose. Subordination does two things: it adds variety to sentence structure and it creates complex ideas from simpler ones, so in many instances, it is the best choice for comma splice repair.
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