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Sentence Skills, Form A book cover
Sentence Skills, Form A, 7/e
John Langan, Atlantic Cape Community College
Run-Ons

Key Terms


clause  a group of words having a subject and a verb
comma splice  a comma incorrectly used to connect ("splice" together) two complete thoughts. Ex.: I go to school, my brother stays home.
conjunction  a word (e.g., and, but, for, or not, so, yet) used to join two complete thoughts; also called a joining word
dependent clause  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.
dependent word  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.
fused sentence  a run-on with no punctuation to mark the break between thoughts. Ex.: I go to school my brother stays home.
independent clause  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.
joining word  a word (e.g., and, but, for, or not, so, yet) used to join two complete thoughts; also called a conjunction
run-on  two complete thoughts that 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.
semi-colon  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.
subordinate clause  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.
subordination  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.)








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