Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

...

Panel
borderColorgrey
titleColorwhite
titleBGColor#331C54
borderStylenone
titleRun-on Fused Sentences (also called “Fused “Run-on Sentences”)

Do you recognize the following sentence as nonstandard?

Nonstandard

I forgot my keys this morning I don’t know quite how it happened.

A fused or run-on or fused sentence occurs when two independent clauses are fused without
any connected without any intervening punctuation. There are a variety of ways to correct it.

Standard Sentences

I forgot my keys this morning. I don’t know quite how it happened.

I forgot my keys this morning; I don’t know quite how it happened.

I forgot my keys this morning, but I don’t know quite how it happened.

I forgot my keys this morning even though I don’t know quite how it


happened.

I forgot my keys this morning; however, I don’t know quite how

it
happened

it happened.

Please note that a run-on sentence is not just a particularly long sentence; long
sentences—even long sentences—even sentences in excess of a hundred words—can follow grammatical
rules grammatical rules entirely properly: when they do so, they are merely long sentences. In order
to order to be considered a run-on, a sentence must have two independent clauses that are
fused stuck together without any intervening punctuation.

...