10.5 Fragments, Run-ons and Comma Splices

Notes

Three common sentence errors break the rules of clauses.

• A fragment is an incomplete sentence, often a lone dependent clause: Because the bus was late.
• A run-on (fused sentence) joins two independent clauses with no punctuation: I was tired I went to bed.
• A comma splice joins two independent clauses with only a comma: I was tired, I went to bed.
• Fixes: use a period, a semicolon, a comma plus FANBOYS, or make one clause dependent.
• Example fix: I was tired, so I went to bed. / Because I was tired, I went to bed.