How do you fix run-ons and comma splices on the GED?

Run-on sentences and comma splices are two full sentences joined the wrong way: with no punctuation at all, or with only a comma.^[1][1] To fix one, split it with a period, or join the two parts correctly: with a semicolon, with a comma plus a word like "and" or "so", or with a word like "because" that makes one part depend on the other. This post explains both mistakes, how they show up on the GED, and each fix, with made-up examples.

What a full sentence is

A full sentence has a subject and a verb, and it expresses a complete thought. Writing teachers call it an independent clause, because it can stand alone as a sentence.^[1] The subject is who or what the sentence is about. The verb tells what the subject does or is.

• The kitchen was cold.
• I turned on the heater.

In the first, "kitchen" is the subject and "was" is the verb. In the second, "I" is the subject and "turned" is the verb.

A group of words like "because the kitchen was cold" has a subject and a verb too, but it is not a complete thought: it leaves you waiting for the rest. Written alone, as if it were a sentence, it becomes a sentence fragment, an incomplete thought treated as a complete sentence.^[1]

What run-ons and comma splices are

Now join those two full sentences the wrong way:

• No punctuation: The kitchen was cold I turned on the heater.
• Only a comma: The kitchen was cold, I turned on the heater.

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab calls the first one a fused sentence, which it says is also known as a run-on sentence.^[1] It calls the second one a comma splice: a comma between two full sentences.^[1]

A note on the names

These names are not used the same way everywhere. GED's teacher materials use them a little differently from Purdue: in GED's description of its run-on questions, the choice called a fused sentence is a comma splice, a comma used to join two separate sentences.^[2] So the names vary from one source to another. Whatever the name, the question is the same: are the full sentences joined correctly? The fixes are the same too.^[3]

How this shows up on the GED

On the test

One of GED's language skills, coded L.2.2, is editing to get rid of run-on sentences, fused sentences and sentence fragments.^[2] Language questions come as a passage that needs editing, with 4 to 5 drop-down menus, and each drop-down tests one of 13 language skills.^[2] Our post on GED language arts question types explains how drop-down questions work.

On a question that tests this skill, the wrong choices include one for each mistake the skill names: a run-on sentence, a fused sentence and a sentence fragment.^[2] So read each choice in its sentence, and pick the one where every sentence is full and joined correctly.

GED Testing Service also reports that some students think a comma alone can join two sentences.^[2] So when a choice joins two full sentences with only a comma, look again.

In the essay

Run-ons count in your essay too. Trait 3 of the essay's rubric, GED's scoring guide, lists sentence-structure skills, and one of them is avoiding run-ons, fused sentences and fragments.^[4]

In GED's scored examples, an essay with several run-on sentences or comma splices still earned the top Trait 3 score of 2, because those errors did not greatly get in the way of understanding.^[4] So the top score does not require perfect sentences. Still, run-ons are on the rubric's list, and they can make your reader work harder. Look for them when you proofread.

Four ways to fix them

Fix 1: Use a period

Split the two parts into two sentences, and end the first one with a period.^[3]

• Run-on: My phone died last night I never heard the alarm.
• Fixed: My phone died last night. I never heard the alarm.

Fix 2: Use a semicolon

A semicolon (;) can join two full sentences. To fix a comma splice, you can change the comma to a semicolon.^[1]

• Comma splice: The soup needs more salt, the bread is perfect.
• Fixed: The soup needs more salt; the bread is perfect.

Fix 3: Use a comma and a joining word

Seven short words can join two full sentences: "and", "but", "for", "or", "nor", "so" and "yet". Writing teachers call them coordinating conjunctions. When one of them starts the second full sentence, put a comma before it.^[1]

• Comma splice: The pharmacy closes at noon on Fridays, we should go early.
• Fixed: The pharmacy closes at noon on Fridays, so we should go early.

Fix 4: Make one part depend on the other

Put a word such as "because", "although", "when" or "if" in front of one of the full sentences. Purdue calls these dependent marker words: they make that part depend on the rest of the sentence.^[1] When the part with the marker word comes first, a comma separates it from the rest.^[1]

• Comma splice: It started to rain, we moved the party inside.
• Fixed: Because it started to rain, we moved the party inside.
• Also fixed: We moved the party inside because it started to rain.

Keep the two parts together, though. A part that starts with "because" cannot stand alone:

• Fragment: Because it started to rain.

That is a sentence fragment, the third mistake on GED's list.^[2] To fix a fragment, you can usually join it to the sentence next to it, or take out the marker word.^[1]

A long sentence is not always a run-on

A run-on is about how full sentences are joined, not about length. UNC's Writing Center (at the University of North Carolina) notes that a very long sentence can tire the reader, but it is not necessarily wrong.^[3]

• Short, but a run-on: It rained we stayed home.
• Long, but correct: When the rain finally stopped late in the afternoon, my neighbor and I walked to the corner store for milk, eggs and bread.

UNC also offers a quick test. Try to turn the sentence into one yes/no question. With a run-on, one question will not work: you need a separate question for each thought.^[3]

• "It rained we stayed home" needs two questions: "Did it rain?" and "Did we stay home?" So it is a run-on.
• The long sentence turns into one question: "When the rain finally stopped late in the afternoon, did my neighbor and I walk to the corner store for milk, eggs and bread?" So it is not.

Watch out for "however"

Words like "however" and "therefore" can look like joining words, but they do not work like "and" or "but".^[5] When one of them starts the second of two full sentences, a comma before it is not enough. Put a semicolon before it, or start a new sentence.^[1][5] Purdue's example also puts a comma after "however".^[1]

• Comma splice: The test was hard, however, I finished on time.
• Fixed with a semicolon: The test was hard; however, I finished on time.
• Fixed with a period: The test was hard. However, I finished on time.

Purdue calls these independent marker words. Its list also includes "therefore", "moreover", "consequently", "furthermore", "nevertheless" and "also", and the same semicolon rule applies to each.^[1]

Practice it

Try our free practice question on run-ons. Check that every sentence in your choice is full and joined correctly, then read the feedback. Like all of our free practice questions on OpenEssayMe, it needs no sign-up, and every answer comes with feedback that explains each choice. For another editing skill, see our post on subject-verb agreement.