Writing in English: Comma Splices & 4 easy ways to fix them

Hi there. My name is Emma, and today we have a slightly advanced lesson. So for some of

you beginners, this might be a little too advanced. So what we're going to talk about

are comma splices. So before I begin explaining what a comma splice is, I want to do a little

quiz. So I have four sentences up here. I want you to read them. We'll read them together,

and I want you to tell me in which sentences do I use a comma correctly, and in which sentences

have I made a mistake. So question number one, "Black bears are beautiful, they have

shiny coats." Question number two, "I love watching movies, I hate watching TV." Number

three, "My friend, comma, a student at the University of Toronto, comma, lives on campus."

And number four, "I watched soccer yesterday, comma, it was boring." So take a second, look

at them, figure out which ones you think are correct and incorrect. So number one, this

sentence is incorrect. In this sentence, we have an example of a comma splice. So pretty

much, just to give you some background, what a comma splice is, is when we have two sentences,

so each sentence has a subject and a verb, second part has a subject and a verb, and

they're incorrectly put together with just a comma. So look at number two, "I love watching

movies, comma, I hate watching TV." So in this case, again, we've made the same mistake.

So this sentence is incorrect. We have a complete sentence, "I love watching movies." If I put

a period here, it could stand alone. Second sentence, "I hate watching TV." It has a subject

and a verb, it's a sentence, but we've just put a comma between them, they're incorrectly

combined. Number three, "My friend, comma, a student at the University of Toronto, comma,

lives on campus." This sentence is actually correct. So this one, you can give a big check

mark. We're not making a comma splice mistake. We don't have two separate sentences in here

combined with a comma. Finally, number four, "I watched soccer yesterday, comma, it was

boring." Do you think this is a case of a comma splice? Well, if you look at it, you

have the subject, "I", the verb in the first sentence. In the second sentence, you have

"it", which is a subject, and a verb. So again, you have two separate sentences that have

just been combined with a comma. Now, comma splices are some of the most common mistakes

I see in writing, both with ESL students and with native speakers. They're very easy to

make. Students often, they don't recognize them. They know they're a mistake, but in

their own writing, they just don't see them. And so it's important when you do any piece

of writing, double check. Make sure you're not making this type of mistake.

So in this video, we're going to talk about four different ways to fix a comma splice.

Okay? Now, the very first way is very simple. So like I said, a comma splice is when you

put two sentences together with just a comma. So because we have two sentences, the simplest

thing to do, if I want to make this correct, is turn this comma into a period, and then

just make "they" a capital. So now the sentence becomes, "Black bears are beautiful. They

have shiny coats." They're two separate sentences. This is the easiest way to correct a comma

splice.

Another alternative is using a coordinating conjunction. So what are coordinating conjunctions

again? These are what are known as "FANBOYS". So "FAN" stands for "for", "and", "nor", "but",

"or", "yet", and "so". These are what are known as coordinating conjunctions. You can

remember them, "FANBOYS". If you use one of these -- and remember, it has to make sense

in the context of the sentence. This is another way to deal with comma splices.

So if I look at the sentence, "I love watching movies. I hate watching TVs." I can choose

a "FANBOY". "I love watching movies, but I hate watching TV." And it's important to notice

the comma stays. We don't remove the comma when we're using these "FANBOYS". So that's

the second way we can correct a comma splice. Like I said, number three was correct. There's

nothing we have to do with that one.

A third way to correct a comma splice is to use what's known as a "semicolon". So a semicolon

is a piece of punctuation that looks like this. So it has a dot at the top and a comma

at the bottom. So we use semicolons when we have an idea, and we add to that idea with

a further linked idea. So for example, "Black bears are beautiful. They have shiny coats."

Now, this idea about shiny coats, it might be linked to the reason why they're beautiful.

So if this is sort of an added idea, we can use a semicolon. So, "Black bears are beautiful."

Semicolon. And you don't need a capital after a semicolon. So it can go back to being a

small letter. "They have shiny coats." So this is the third way to correct a comma splice

using a semicolon.

The final way is to use dependent clauses, transitions for dependent clauses. Now, I

know that sounds a little bit complicated, but when you see what I mean, it's very easy.

We can use words -- use this example -- like "because", "since", "when", "if". These words

help the sentence to become two sentences -- sorry, an independent clause and a dependent

clause. So now, "Black bears are beautiful because" -- and we also need "they" -- "they

have shiny coats." "Black bears are beautiful since they have shiny coats." "Black bears

are beautiful when they have shiny coats." "Black bears are beautiful if they have shiny

coats." And again, with "because", "since", "when", "if", you don't need a comma. So whereas

for the fanboys, for "for", "and", "nor", "but", or "yet", "so", you need a comma here.

For "because", "since", "when", "if", we don't use a comma. So again, four ways to deal with

comma splices -- period, semicolon, one of our fanboys, or making the second part of

the sentence into a dependent clause. So "because", "since", "when", "if".

Thank you for watching this video. For more practice with comma splices, please feel free

to visit us at www.engvid.com, where you can do our test on this. Take care until next

time.