Key Terms

a group of words having a subject and a verb

a comma incorrectly used to connect ("splice" together) two complete thoughts. Ex.: I go to school, my brother stays home.

a word (e.g., and, but, for, or not, so, yet) used to join two complete thoughts; also called a joining word

a group of words having a subject and a verb that does not express a complete thought and is not able to stand alone; also called a subordinate clause. Ex.: Whenever I go to school.

a word (such as when, because, if, etc.) that introduces a group of words having a subject and verb but not able to stand alone. Ex.: Whenever I go to school.

a run-on with no punctuation to mark the break between thoughts. Ex.: I go to school my brother stays home.

a group of words having a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought and is able to stand alone. Ex.: I go to school.

a word (e.g., and, but, for, or not, so, yet) used to join two complete thoughts; also called a conjunction

two complete thoughts that are run together with no adequate sign given to mark the break between them. In this text, the term "run-on" denotes both comma splices and fused sentences; some instructors prefer to use "run-on" as a synonym of fused sentence alone.

a punctuation mark that can be used to join two complete thoughts; sometimes called a strong comma, a semi-colon signals more of a pause than a comma alone, but not the full stop of a period.

a group of words having a subject and a verb that does not express a complete thought and is not able to stand alone; also called a dependent clause. Ex.: Whenever I go to school.

a method of joining to complete thoughts that shows that one thought is not as important than the other thought; subordinate clauses begin with a dependent word (e.g., because, when, if, etc.)