Grammar Bytes! The Writer's Guide To Grammar

Rambling Run-Ons

  Let's start with one of the most common problems a writer faces: the dreaded run-on sentence. A run-on sentence is, by definition, a sentence attempting to communicate far too many details without making clear sense of them.

  It can easily be compared to rambling on long after you've run out of breath, trying to squeeze as many words out as possible.

  The easiest way to kill any run-on sentence is correct punctuation. Note, however, that it is indeed possible to create longer sentences-- even sentences that are paragraphs by themselves-- without making a run-on.

  I'm going to give you an example of this. Here's a run-on sentence-- though, you may pardon me if I find it difficult to make one on purpose.

  "The boy came into the house, he was dirty from playing outside, he noticed a bluebird sitting on the windowsill, he'd never seen a bluebird before, he smiled at it as his mother told him to wash up."

  Pretty easy to see why that's wrong, isn't it? The above sentence is a run-on because it takes far too many separate facts and attempts to cram them together without any clear, logical progression from one to the next.

  Now I will show you, not only how to order that run-on sentence, but even how to turn it into one long sentence that is grammatically correct.

  "The boy came into the house, dirty from playing outside. He noticed a bluebird on the windowsill, and having never seen one before, he smiled at it as his mother told him to wash up."

  Amazing what a little punctuation can do to separate and clearly communicate several related ideas. Now here is a paragraph of the same sentence-- but not a run on.

  "The boy came into the house, dirty from playing outside; he noticed a bluebird on the windowsill, and, having never seen one before, he smiled as his mother told him to wash up."

  One whole sentence. One whole paragraph (and paragraphs aren't all one size. There aren't really any hard-and-fast rules to them, so long as you aren't just dumping long stretches of information at once). And yet it is not a run-on sentence, because, as we see, each detail is clearly and separately communicated in order of logical progression.

  This is what makes the semi-colon incredibly useful, because it functions almost the same way as a period, with one main difference: A period indicates a full stop, while a semi-colon is half a stop. Think of it this way: as you are communicating one thought, another detail comes to mind in the middle of things. A semi-colon is as good as a dash-- here used to denote a sort of side comment on what is being said.

  The semi-colon can be used in place of any simple conjunction, not only to join two independent clauses together a bit more seamlessly, but also to cut down on the monotony of "and's and but's." I don't really think I have to say that overuse of these conjunctions can very quickly become quite boring.

  But there's more. With a semi-colon you can use more complex conjunctions, and turn even prepositions into conjunctions. For example:

  "The boy came into the house, dirty from playing outside; after which he noticed a bluebird on the windowsill. He'd never seen a bluebird before, and smiled at it as his mother told him to wash up."

  So you see, there are any number of ways you can turn that rambling sentence into a clear, concise paragraph communicating the scene effectively.

  Now, it seems important to note that you never want to use too many semi-colons, just the same way as using too many commas can become tedious. Too much of anything, especially in writing, is a bad thing.
Though it's not the end of the world if-- like me-- you tend to default to commas often. They are, after all, the most basic and common punctuation available, able to be used in virtually any situation.

  But generally, you want to vary your punctuation as much as possible. Commas stand rather alone in the fact that they can be used in one long marching line (as long as the sentence is correct) while semi-colons, dashes, and colons must be interspersed. Just look at them as ways to brighten up an otherwise dull sentence.

  But I digress. The next section will be focused on punctuations and their proper uses.