ENG 3CI

GRAMMAR BOOT CAMP

Punctuation

Comma Splice – A comma splice occurs when two independent sentences are joined by a comma.

Example: Joe wanted pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast, he bought pancake mix last night.

How Can I Fix a Comma Splice?

  1. Use a period to end one sentence. Use a capital letter to begin the next sentence.

Example: Joe wanted pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast. He bought pancake mix last night.

  1. Use a semicolon to connect them if the two sentences are closely related to each other. The second clause expands on the reasoning of the first clause.

Example: Joe wanted pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast; he bought pancake mix last night.

  1. Use a coordinating conjunction. (FANBOYS)

(FANBOYS)

Example: Joe wanted pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast, so he bought pancake mix last night.

Exercise #1: Fix the following comma splices, using one of the above methods.

  1. Before our first game we hadn’t thought about the opposition, they might be better skilled than our team. ______
  2. The players assembled on the field, it was their first game of the season. ______
  3. The other coach was yelling from the sidelines, he was telling his players to beat us to the ball. ______
  4. Then the officials called a penalty shot for our team, the other coach couldn’t believe his eyes, he yelled at the official, his face turned red. ______
  5. The other coach got a yellow card, we thought that was hilarious, our coach told us to keep our cool. ______
  6. We knew better than that, we know what good sportsmanship looks like. ______

Run-on Sentence – A run-on sentence has two or more complete thoughts, or independent clauses, which run together without any punctuation.

Example: Dakota loves eating at Tim Hortons she just doesn’t like drinking coffee.

How Can I Fix a Run-on Sentence?

  1. Use a period to end one sentence. Use a capital letter to begin the next sentence.

Example: Dakota loves eating at Tim Hortons. She just doesn’t like drinking coffee.

  1. Use a semicolon to connect them if the two sentences are closely related to each other. The second clause expands on the reasoning of the first clause.

Example: Dakota loves eating at Tim Hortons; she just doesn’t like drinking coffee.

  1. Use a coordinating conjunction. (FANBOYS)

Example: Dakota loves eating at Tim Hortons, but she just doesn’t like drinking coffee.

Exercise #2: Correct the run-on sentences in the following paragraphs. Write in the correct punctuation. Capitalize where necessary.

Once upon a time in a faraway town lived a young man named Xavier he led a very dull, one-sided life all day he attended horribly hard high school all evening Xavier’s face was buried in his books then at bedtime he read his english novel wasn’t there more to life than school? he never attended parties he did not participate in any sports he doesn’t know any girls except one named Maribelle Xavier isn’t even sure what Maribelle looks like since her nose is always buried in a textbook such as the joys of boring english she likes to spend a lot of time in the library while Xavier’s parents were pleased with his grades they still found a pile of picky things to nag and torture their only son with for example, they nagged whenever he left his toothbrush on the bathroom counter

One day after school Xavier bumped into Maribelle at the library she was taking out a novel called Pride and Prejudicehe asked her if she wanted to watch a movie on Netflix at his house.

To be continued…

Sentence Fragment– A sentence fragment is a phrase or a clause that does not express a complete thought because it is missing a subject or a verb.

Examples:

The Toronto Maple Leafs. Which is my favourite team.When they win.Need practice.

Exercise #3: Correct the following run-on sentences, comma-splices and sentence fragments.

Maribelle thought for a moment and took out her calendar on her iPhone she said she was free on Thursday night, Xavier smiled shyly and said he knows the perfect movie to watch when Maribelle arrived at Xaviers house. He showed her into the family room, his parents were eating spinach salad at the kitchen table Xavier had a twinkle in his eye. when he turned on the TV.

to be continued...