Comma splice: Difference between revisions
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A '''comma splice''' is the use of a [[comma]] to join two [[independent clause]]s. For example: |
A '''comma splice''' is the use of a [[comma]] to join two [[independent clause]]s. For example: |
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{{Quote|It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark.{{refn|group=Note|Examples are adapted from the online, public-domain 1918 edition of ''[[The Elements of Style]]'' by William Strunk, Jr.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Strunk|first1=William|title=The Elements of Style|date=1918|publisher=Harcourt, Brace and Company (via [[Project Gutenberg]])|location=New York|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37134|language=en}}</ref>}}}} |
{{Quote|It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark.{{refn|group=Note|Examples are adapted from the online, public-domain 1918 edition of ''[[The Elements of Style]]'' by William Strunk, Jr.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Strunk|first1=William|title=The Elements of Style|date=1918|publisher=Harcourt, Brace and Company (via [[Project Gutenberg]])|location=New York|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37134|language=en}}</ref>}}}} |
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Revision as of 02:00, 29 March 2017
 | This article possibly contains original research. (March 2017) |
A comma splice is the use of a comma to join two independent clauses. For example:
It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark.[Note 1]
Although acceptable in some languages and compulsory in others (e.g. Bulgarian or French), comma splices are usually considered style errors in English. Some English style guides consider comma splices appropriate in certain situations, such as when being poetic or with short similar phrases.[2][3]
Prescriptive view
The original 1918 edition of The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. advises using a semicolon, not a comma, to join two grammatically complete clauses, except when the clauses are "very short" and "similar in form".[3] Strunk & White gives the example:
The gate swung apart, the bridge fell, the portcullis was drawn up.[citation needed]
According to Joanne Buckley, comma splices often arise when writers use conjunctive adverbs to separate two independent clauses instead of using a coordinating conjunction.[4] A coordinating conjunction is one of the seven words: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. A conjunctive adverb is a word like furthermore, however, or moreover.
A conjunctive adverb and a comma (or a conjunctive adverb between two commas) is not strong enough to separate two independent clauses and creates a comma splice; only semicolons and periods are strong enough to separate two independent clauses without a conjunction.[according to whom?] For example, the following sentence contains a comma splice with a conjunctive adverb:
There is no admission fee, however, you will be responsible for any food you order.
Grammarians disagree as to whether a comma splice also constitutes a run-on sentence. Some run-on sentence definitions include comma splices,[5] but others limit the term to independent clauses that are joined without punctuation, thereby excluding comma splices.[6][7]
Comma splices are considered acceptable by some in passages of spoken (or interior) dialogue, and are sometimes used deliberately to emulate spoken language more closely. The comma splice is often considered acceptable in poetic writing. The editors of the Jerusalem Bible translate Isaiah 11:4 as:
His word is a rock that strikes the ruthless, his sentences bring death to the wicked.[8]
In literature
Fowler's Modern English Usage describes the use of the comma splice by the authors Elizabeth Jolley and Iris Murdoch:
We are all accustomed to the … conjoined sentences that turn up from children or from our less literate friends… Curiously, this habit of writing comma-joined sentences is not uncommon in both older and present-day fiction. Modern examples: I have the bed still, it is in every way suitable for the old house where I live now (E. Jolley); Marcus … was of course already quite a famous man, Ludens had even heard of him from friends at Cambridge (I. Murdoch).[9][page needed]
Author Lynne Truss writes: "so many highly respected writers observe the splice comma that a rather unfair rule emerges on this one: only do it if you're famous".[2] Citing Samuel Beckett, E. M. Forster, and Somerset Maugham, she says: "Done knowingly by an established writer, the comma splice is effective, poetic, dashing. Done equally knowingly by people who are not published writers, it can look weak or presumptuous. Done ignorantly by ignorant people, it is awful".[2]
The famous sentence I came, I saw, I conquered falls into the same category.
Notes
- ^ Examples are adapted from the online, public-domain 1918 edition of The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.[1]
References
- ^ Strunk, William (1918). The Elements of Style. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company (via Project Gutenberg).
- ^ a b c Truss, Lynne (2003). "That'll do, comma". Eats, Shoots & Leaves. London: Profile Books. p. 88. ISBN 1-86197-612-7.
- ^ a b Strunk, William (1918). "Elementary Rules of Usage". The Elements of Style (1st ed.).
{{cite book}}: External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - ^ Buckley, Joanne (2003). Checkmate : a writing reference for Canadians. Scarborough, Ont.: Thomson Nelson. ISBN 0-176-22440-8.
- ^ "Run-on Sentences, Comma Splices". grammar.ccc.commnet.edu. Hartford, Connecticut: Capital Community College.
- ^ "Run-ons - Comma Splices - Fused Sentences". Purdue Online Writing Lab. Purdue University.
- ^ Hairston, Maxine; Ruszkiewicz, John J.; Friend, Christy (1998). The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers (5th ed.). New York: Longman. p. 509. ISBN 0-321-00248-2.
- ^ Alexander Jones, ed. (1966). Jerusalem Bible (Reader's Edition). Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-49918-3.
- ^ Burchfield, R. W., ed. (1996). The New Fowler's Modern English Usage (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-869126-2.
External links
- The Elements of Style: full text of Strunk's 1918 edition