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>> INSTRUCTOR: Alright, so now we're going to talk about comma splices.
I'm sure that's something you've seen on your paper.
So, what is a comma splice?
A comma splice is a punctuation problem.
It happens when you connect two independent clauses with just a comma.
Commas can do a lot, but they can't connect independent clauses together.
Well, what on earth is an "independent clause"?
An independent clause is the fancy grammatical term
for a subject and a verb; that's it. That's a complete sentence.
And when you have two independent clauses and you stick them together with a comma,
then that is a comma splice. It is incorrect.
So, let's look at this sentence.
We have "The fire alarm went off": "alarm" is my subject,
"went" is my verb, and then I have "we exited" (subject, verb).
So, here I have a comma splice.
Well, what can I do? How can I fix the comma splice in this particular sentence?
Well, you have a couple of options. The first thing you can do is just add a semicolon.
Semicolons connect independent clauses while commas do not.
So, bam: semicolon, done.
But, say you don't want to do that. You want to do something else.
Okay, that's fine; you can just add a period.
Make those two independent clauses [into] two separate sentences.
So put a period and then capitalize your "we," and you're good.
Maybe you don't want to do that. Okay, that's fine.
In this case, you can add a coordinating conjunction.
Coordinating conjunctions are your "FANBOYS"—so remember,
that's "for," "and," "nor," "but," "or," "yet," or "so."
And when you stick those in the middle, you put a comma before them.
So "The fire alarm went off" comma "so we exited the building." So, that's another option.
Or, if you want, you can just reword the entire sentence.
Add some more words in there and you will be good to go.
For instance, instead of saying, "The fire alarm went off,"
I can just say, "When the fire alarm went off, we exited the building."
Or, maybe I don't like that. I wanna say, "The fire alarm went off as we exited the
building."
Any of those things will do.
Now, remember: commas are amazing bits of punctuation,
but they just cannot connect two independent clauses together without some help!