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Writing in English – Comma Splices
Do you know what a comma splice is? Learn about one of the most common writing mistakes that students make and four easy ways to correct it. This free lesson will help you to become a better writer.
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Great lesson, I had never heard about comma splices !
Hi Emma & Teams, Thanks a lot for give the opportunity to learn English for non native speakers. Once again I would like to say thanks for the hole Team members.
I must to speak english very well because i like english very well
Dear Emma, Many thanks for this useful vid about using comma properly. We are short of this kind of vids for advanced learners here in Hungary. Ohh btw, greeting from Hungary. I like your new haircut.
:-)
Chris
Nowadays this is a very common error in spanish language too. In fact, some years ago I thought I was wrong or it was a new way to write the language… until this lesson.
It was a great explanation, and now I can use comma correctly in English.
Thanks,
Sávio
Hello dear Emma.Thank you for your Videos it was so useful for me And I hope you continue to do video in academic writing like fragment and subject verb agreement and so on.
best wishes for you.
hell yeah, gorgeous haircut. take care, Emma cya until next time.
Thank you for sharing a worth lesson. It help the people around the Globe.
Thanks a lot for your lesson Emma, but I have a question for you: what about the colon?and dashes and quotes?
Punctuation marks are very annoying!
hi, i’m a brazilian guy; i have known engVid on youtube and, since then i have watched your lessons. they are very helpful and thanks to them, my english has improved a lot. you really do a great work.now, i take your lessons everyday. thank you so much.
Hi!! Emma, it has been a great lesson. I hope you can give us more lessons like this. By the way, you´ve got a very nice hair cut, you look so nice…
Regards from México.
nice lesson thank you
Thanks from VietNam.
Why did you put a comma before the word But in the five sentence?
Thank you for your question.
We use a comma before ‘but’ if the phrase (clause) after it can be its own sentence.
For example:
I like watching movies, but I don’t like watching TV.
‘I don’t like watching TV’ can be its own sentence because it has a subject (I) and a verb (don’t like watching. ‘But’ actually joins two sentences together.
If the phrase after ‘but’ cannot be its own sentence, we don’t use a comma.
For example: I’m feeling tired but good.
‘Good’ can’t be its own sentence. It’s missing a subject and a verb. Therefore, we don’t need a comma before ‘but’.
This is the comma rule for what are called FANBOYS: For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
Here are some more examples of this comma rule.
I visit engvid everyday, and I love the videos on the site. (Notice the comma before ‘and’)
I like coffee and tea. (Notice there is no comma)
Today I was tired, so I went to bed early. (Notice comma before ‘so’)
I want to improve my English, but I don’t know how. (Notice comma before ‘but’)
My friend is funny but lazy. (Notice there is no comma)
good explanation,but i see some sentences with but without a comma,they are not like you explained.
both sentences are complete sentences and i can not figure out why there is no comma
sorry, which one ?
I didn’t see any thing wrong here :)
Nice explanation
……very easy to understand .Thanks
thanks for saying this madam ,but i believe that if you want learn a language you have to speak and write with the people who may know more then you in order to correct your mistakes.
Awesome explanation…Thanks
Just another question. I like watching movies, but he doesn’t like watching TV. Is it correct mam?
great lesson Emma, thanks a lot!!!
Hii Emma,
I would like you to thank for correcting my sentences which I included in my last comment.I have understood my mistakes after reading the rectified ones corrected by you.Today, I intend to tell you something.Sometimes, I feel that it is not possible for me to learn this language properly as I can’t keep a belief in myself .Moreover, I always think that what I am doing/learning/understanding is incorrect. Consequently, it makes me feel bad.Sometimes, I read some sentences in my technical books whose sentence structure is not known to me rather I do not know the rules associated with them for being able to make sentences in that way.I have shown some examples of those.
1.We have a finance dept. in our office headed by Steve Johnson.
2.The company has several branches spread across the city managed by different manager.
Actually mam, what I want to know is that what grammar rules words like “managed by”,”headed by” follow in the above sentences.
Furthermore,how do we use them in a sentence and what’s the related grammar rule.Though, the meaning is very clear as the first sentence indicates that Steve Johnson heads the finance dept.In other words, he is the head of the finance dept.In the second case,the meaning which we can derive from the sentence is that the company has deputed enough number of employees to supervise the activities of each department it has across the city.The sentence clearly means that there is a manager posted at each branch.To be honest, I have acquired this idea as I am an engineering student and have been reading books in English for past three years.
I would request you to help me understand this rule citing some examples.
The correctness of a sentence/phrase in every natural language depends on its usage. All natural languages have ‘style’, ‘register’ and so on. For example, if I say ‘Fire! Get out!’ am I breaking grammar rules? No, but you can see something is missing: ‘(There’s a) fire! (Let’s all) get out!’. As for your sentences, the first should read ‘Steve Johnson is the finance department – head office in our company’, and the second one should be ‘The company has several branch offices spread across the city. Each office is assigned to a different manager.’
Hi Sona,
Thank you for your question. First of all, I’d like to say that it is clear that you have studied English for a long time. Your writing is easy to understand.
Secondly, I just wanted to remind everyone that it’s okay to make mistakes. In terms of grammar, many people, both native and non native speakers, have difficulty. Everyday, I have English speakers who were born in Canada ask me grammar questions. ESL students do not realize the many mistakes that native speakers make.
Technical grammar books are difficult for most people to understand, so do not lose hope and do not be too hard on yourselves if you find grammar challenging. I find that sometimes these sorts of books leave students more confused than before.
In terms of your question about ‘managed by’ and ‘headed by’, your understanding of the example sentences is correct. As you’ve probably noticed, these words are followed by the names or titles of people.
I will get back to you on this question soon with a more detailed response.
what a great lesson!!! Thanks a lot.
This lesson is really help me to cleared up all the question i had regarding to comma usage. Thanks you.
Emma, you are the best teacher!!! :)
very educative!thanks!
I enjoy this class! Thanks!
you’re so beautiful and cute with new hair
I can not understand how to answer for the quiz. ” I read the newspaper today, there were some really great stories in it.”
I think this sentence is incorrect. I should put period instead of comma? Complicated quiz for me…
Hi Masa,
Comma splices are difficult for both native and non native speakers. You are correct with your example. The sentence is incorrect, so you can put a period to correct it.
Hi Emma,
I love working at the bank, but my friend hates it. – I thought the sentence was incorrect because “fanboys” (but) are usually used without comma. What is correct?
Thanks a lot!
Hi Anaxo,
Thank you for your comment. We use a comma with ‘FANBOYS’ when we join two sentences together. Please see my explanation above for eldu19.
That was really good stuff to learn. Thanks a lot for the lesson!!
Great stuff!! Thanks.
I think it would be correct a period or the word but, anybody?
Hi Shred,
These are two ways to correct comma splices. Let me know if you have a specific question or example you’re confused about.
Thanks Emma.
one Sentence, one Verb !!!
Thanks for your lessons
Supper! Thanks a lot!
You are fantastic, greetings from Venezuela.
Thanks Emma. I have a question for you. Is “Comma Splices” the same than run-on sentences? Thanks in advance!
They are very similar. The only difference between run-ons and comma splices is the comma.
A run-on sentence is two or more sentences joined without proper punctuation(eg, I love reading books books are good we should buy more books).
A comma splice is two sentences mistakenly joined by only a comma (I love reading books, books are good.).
By the way I liked your new hairstyle. You look so beautiful.
I think I made a mistake. Is “Comma Splices” the same as run-on sentences?
Emma apparently there is another way to avoid “Comma splices”, but I’m not sure. By using a dash to separate two independent clauses. What do you think?
Hi Esphiritu,
A dash is another possibility as well. It’s rarely used though. Thank you for your comments.
Hi Emma. I hope you have a nice time, please correct joining the two following sentences with comma splice.
The following sentence is an example of a comma splice: I went to the cinema yesterday and saw a film, it starred Brad Pitt.
This is an example of a comma splice. The comma has been used to incorrectly join two sentences.
Hi Ali,
Here is the corrected sentence:
I went to the cinema yesterday and saw a film. It starred Brad Pitt.
Hi Emma!Thank you very much for this lesson!It is very useful and clear!
Thank you very much miss emma, it was very usefull tip.
Best regards from Argentina,
Javier.
Emma, you are adorable! Thanks for your lessons a lot. :)
thanks
engVid moderator: birthday happiness of you I am hambly wishing.
O______o …Yesterday was my birthday! How did you know…
Nice lesson, and WOW!!! Nice hair cut!! You look stunning!!!
This is my ID : nasim_baluch@yahoo.com
I wanna chat for enhancing the English and skills.
It was a very useful lesson, thanks a lot.
late but happy birthday EngVid moderator many days like this one. may the third, now everyone knows it. we need 2 know if u r man or woman. one more thing take of picture of you.
I love ur bob hair,it looks great on you.Thank you for the lesson,Ive learned so much from it.
really it is a nice lesson to understand comma
Thanks Emma!
thank you madame
I should admit that it’s the hardest lesson for me on engvid.com
Hi Emma
will you pleas explain me the meaning of the word “splice” in the “comma splice”?
I’m anxiously waiting for the explanation from you
By the way I’m from Carapicuiba, SP, Brazil
Thanks
hello Emma, my teacher, thanks for helping me. i like your lessons very much.. bundle of thanks…
God bless you my Teacher
your sincerely,
Bakht Ullah from Pakistan
You got a new hairstyle here, wow! It looks nice! ;) Oh, and the lesson was very cool as well!
Thank you, cani put comma after and.
I sucked at quiz because i did all in opposite order.
Hi Harsh,
Let me know which ones you had difficulties with.
0 out of 9, wtf
Hi Max,
Try to watch the lesson again. If there is something that is confusing, please let me know. I will try to explain here.
nice lesson Emma
Thank you everyone for your comments!
Thanks for your answer, you are great Emma!!!
its amazing to learn english here i want to improve my englsih iam from pakistan. i every day watch a great videos of Emma & others.hell yes
the most confusing thing in this lesson for me was that “comma splice” is the “name of mistake”.sorry i don’t know how to explain it in better way. I mean that “My brother has four children, they look a lot like him.” is example of a comma splice. It means that there is a mistake in this clause.
Great example of a comma splice. I know the name of this sort of mistake may confuse people.
I think comma splices is a name of mistake. In English we may not connect two sentences with a help of comma. Comma splice is incorrect by definition.
u re’ still my favourite teacher because ur amazing in addressing ur lectures.
Thanks for great lessons…I have a question about how to speak such like native American. For example: How can I use teeth, tongue, and the air inside, outside of the mouth during speak. Is that we have special rule for that…such as: each word we have to speak in different way? How many sounds in American we have to learn to become successful such like standard native American speaking. Thanks thousand times for helping me with English…and have a great day…
Hi Emma
I am the one that asked you please explain me the exact meaning of the word “splice” in comma splices)
I see that several persons said they went badly on the quiz just like me and this fact makes me think that for sure they too don’t understand the real meaning of the word splice
Otherwise I’d like to let you know that I’ve already looked for this word in two dictionary and I wasn’t cleared up
If it’s possible to explain it I wll be very grateful
Sincery thanks
Hi Neusa,
Thank you for your question. In English ‘splice’ means to join things together. When we say comma splice, we are saying that two sentences are joined together with a comma. In English, this is considered a mistake.
Comma splice is the grammatical term for this type of mistake, but I guess this term may make people feel more confused.
Hi Emma
Thank you very much for the explanation I asked you for
You’re a lovely teacher
I’m waiting for your next lesson
HiEmma,
Great lesson:)
I have a question to 3rd sentence. Is it not an identifing clause? Does it mean that i have only one friend? May the comma be ommited here?
Cheers from Poland:)
Hi Koku,
Thank you for your question. I believe that you’re referring to the sentence “My friend, a student at the University of Toronto, lives on campus.”
The sentence is a non-identifying clause. I’m giving additional information about my friend that is not necessary to identify whom I’m talking about. I could have also said “My friend lives on campus.”
The sentence does not necessarily mean I only have one friend. It could mean that I’m speaking about a particular friend who lives on campus. Alternatively, it may also mean that I have only one friend. It all depends on the rest of the conversation ie. the context for the sentence.
It would be possible to make this sentence into an identifying clause by omitting the comma.
Eg) My friend who is a student at the University of Toronto lives on campus.
In this example, I have only one friend who is a student at the University of Toronto.
Good but you speak very fast.
I got to learn a lot from engVid.com… lov u all :)
My car broke down yesterday, and I need a car to get to work. Therefore, I should buy a new car.
:)
Excellent!
I want to make friends from all over the world, and I want to talk English like a native speaker.
Friends, you are welcome, if you want to practice spoken English on Skype.
my Skype ID: mursaleen_1
my email: mursaleen.fayyaz@gmail.com
Hi Emma,
Thank you for healping me. I have spelling problems
WAW THANK YOU
thank a lot for your lessons you can give as more plz , about conversation . thank you
hi Emma . Can u tell me the difference between english that we normally use in our daily lives and the english completely different to what we use has a name known as ‘slang’
Thank you Emma!
hi Emma this was very interesting and I enjoy watching your lessons.
I’ve got a question which is not related to your lesson but quiet difficult to master for me: why is there a song entitled ‘what he don’t know?’ instead of ‘doesn’t'?!
And this is not the 1st time I’ve noticed that (in series)…
thanks in advance
by the way could you explain me the difference between ‘quite’ and ‘quiet’ because I am always confused
thanks a lot
Oh Gosh!
No way…
I coulden’t catch the point n
I coulden’t pass the quiz as well.
Dear Emma,if it’s possible 2 u plz make another video on such a new n a bit … 4 understanding topic ASAP!
Many tx,
Regards!
thank you !
wow, this lesson is really fantastic. I hadn’t heard anything about COMMA SPLICES before, and the explaination is excellent. I got 100% in the quizz… thanks a lot…
Hi Emma,
First of all, I would like to thank you for replying to my last comment.I hope you are having a good time and enjoing yourself at the most.Today, I have read a sentence comprised of more than fifteen words on newspaper.It includes all the information together.The sentence reads as:
Three bodies were found floating near two ghats a day after a boat carrying pilgrims capsized in the Hooghly.
Info:First of all, the sentence provides information about a boat which was taking pilgrims to a sacred,holy place where they had decided to go to worship the almighty God.But they could not reach there as a catastrophe struck taking their lives.After that,someone saw that the bodies of the pilgrims were floating in the river and they were very close to the river bank.
We get these much of information after reading the sentence.According to the sentence, it uses passive voice in the past tense in its first part as the emphasis is on bodies, the object which was found.Next,the sentence also contains an usage of reduced relative clause.(Expln:If the first part of the sentence is expanded, it would be “Someone found three bodies which were floating .Here, it means when a person saw the bodies, they were floating.Now, the second part can be turned into a gerund while retaining all other things unchanged.In that case, the original sentence would get changed to the following one:
someone found three bodies floating.
Furthermore, if this intermediate sentence is converted to the passive voice, it would be “Three bodies were found floating{Here, It is not important to add a by phrase at the end.}.Therefore, the first part of the sentence uses a reduced relative clause as well as the passive structure.My next focus is on “the boat carrying”.It is also another use of reduced relative clause since “carrying” identifies the boat-the one which was carrying pilgrims.The last part is in simple past tense.
I have understood a detailed description of the sentence after learning relative clause’s,passive construction,and other related things.
I do not know if I have realized them clearly and exactly.I request you to check my concept as well as let me know about my mistakes.
hi Emma,
it was a great lesson that i have learned from you.i wish that i would like to have some more grammer lesson henceforth.
Thanx Emma.
Thank you Emma!
Hi Emma,
Your lessons were useful for me.
I have one question for you.
I do not understand “the way we live”.
What does “the way” mean.?
It means “how” or “road” ?
nice lesson Emma
Hi there. I would like to share my knowledge about the use of Comma.
The listing use of Comma.
1.Type of list item: noun
He brought coffee, sandwitches, cheese, and soda.
2.Type of list item: verb
She caught, cleaned, cooked and served the fish.
3.Type of list item: adjective
The weather today is cool, dry, and windy.
4.Type of list item: verb phrase
I closed the door, started the car, pulled out of the driveway, and switched on the radio.
5.Type of list item: clause
I made the bread, Bilal cooked the meat, and Rehman chopped the vegetables.
The conjoining use of Comma
1.I lives in Pakistan, and I study at NEDUET.
2.Emma is Canadian, but I am Pakistani.
3.We could continue our relationship, or we could end our relationship.
4.She was sick, so she went to the doctor.
When we use conjunctions, and putting dependent clause first.
1. Although it was hot, he was wearing a coat.
2. Because it was raining, I took my umbrella.
Regards,
Mursaleen Fayyaz:)
Skype: mursaleen_1
Thanks Emma…
when it says ”they have shiny coats, is that a complete sentence.
Hi Zayd,
“They have shiny coats” can be a complete sentence.
Can’t we use a subordinator instead of using a conjunction?
Definitely!
Dear Emma,
great teaching again! Thank you.
By the way.
Even with short hair you look great.
Take care!
Hoppel
thnx alot dear.plz share your wisdom on writing task 2 also….it was a great lecture . i pray for your success and happiness….
hi emma how r u?wanna know how to use present perfect and past?
I thought I had good knowledge of English untill this lesson showed up !! . Where should I put the comma in this sentense : ” I didn’t have a happy birthday but rather a boring one ! ”
And do we generally use commas after (rather) ? Thank you in advance :)
Hi Aya,
In your example, you don’t need a comma.
You need a comma if the part of the sentence after ‘but’ has a subject and a verb.
“I didn’t have a happy birthday, but rather I had a really boring one.”
In this sentence we need a comma before ‘but’ because we have both a subject after ‘but’ (eg, I) and a verb (eg, had).
In terms of the word rather, a comma is optional. It indicates a pause in the sentence.
Nice explanation, but could u describe me the clause because I have bit confusion between clause and sentence.
I hope u would fix my problem.
Thanks
Hi Nasim,
A lot of these grammatical terms can be quite confusing. I’ve written a standard definition of a clause below. This is a basic definition, so I recommend you check out the link below. It links to an in depth definition with many examples.
A clause is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate (the predicate is the part of the sentence including the verb, objects of the sentence or phrases).
For a more in depth look at clauses, check out the following link:
http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/clauseterm.htm
Bundle of thanks my dear teacher…
Dear Emma,thank you very much for yours corrections and explanations about comma splices.Take care!!!!
i was interested 1st because i really don’t know how to use correct comma in a sentence.but you’re too fast to speak i ddn’t understand make it slowly emma ok? it was not cleard.
Great !!
I really understand it !
So many thanks
Dear Emma, this lesson is very well, but the quiz has a problem. People think that this sentence whether correct or false. Nevetheless, the question is “Does the sentence an example of a comma splice?”
thanks
OMG!That’s so confuse .Thanks
hi
Thanks so much Emma its really great lesson!!!!
Your lecture is really helpful,and I like your excercise questions too. It’s really the planned lecture~ Thank you~~
Thanks Emma…
what a good lesson
great lesson emma
Thanks Emma
nice lesson. this is the first time , i heard about comma splices.
This is practically helpful. I am learning a lot from you.
Thank you
hi Emma , i like you so much
I have a question about spelling
my spelling so bad how I can make it batter ?
sorry maybe I have so many mistakes right now .
thanks a lot i really enjoyed the lessons the site is very useful to me so i am going to enjoy all the lessons and to improve my English.
hello haw arw you
Emma . You are best teacher
nice, thanks!
Great lesson. Use comma in english sentences is a lot easier now. Thanks!
Thanks, Emma
Hi Emme, Thanks your teaching about comma splices .I really understood your teaching today lesson.
it’s really wonderful,and this video helping me lot.
its really helping a lot to understand the entire english model… many thanks for this..”)
thank you my teacher.
Tanks ,Emma
this lesson was so helpfull ,thank you
thanks was wonderful lesson
Wonderful lesson, Emma.
Thank You.
What a great lesson. I’ve been studying english for many years but nobody told me about this and I guess no one would do it better than you.
Thanks a million.
hi mam ur todays lesson is too complicated.
Thanks a lot Emma
today , I learned something new
Thank you
Nice Smile Emma, You’re really great teacher. Hope I can catch your lesson. When I was in my college I don’t want an english subject, because my course was Engineer. I thought that this is not important, but right now I’m working as a Network Engineer and dealing with client so I need to speak and write english. I really thanks to this site to help us improve our English language. Please correct my grammar. Once again thank you so much to you.
Hello Emma!
Thank you so much. It really helps me.
I’d had no idea about comma splices before I listened to your lesson and read these comments. I used to make such mistakes. It’s different in the Russian language. It’s not a mistake when you use a comma between two independent sentences in Russian. There must be a comma before who, what, which, that and so in Russian.
I would love you to tell me about sentences with words who, what, which, that. Sometimes I see a comma before these words when I read a book in English. It still confuses me.
Thanks in advance.
Yan
learned something new
Hi Emma can you please publish transcript of your explanations in detail with each video as a PDF document if it is possible. I think it is very important to us as a ESL student. forward, thank you very much for your endless efforts. With my best appreciations.
hard lesson but its nice,
thanks teacher.
thanks a million teacher…your way of teaching is really awesome.keep it up!
Hi Emma!
Great lesson! Can I suggest some lessons, like when to apply “if” or “wether”, “more” and “further”. I’ve never known the differences and when to apply them. Can you help me, as your are such a great teacher.
Take care
it is very interesting. I am very happy
I got the rules of the exercises, but I failed the quiz!
Thanks dear Emma for the excellent lesson.It took me long time to understand and,it was so confusing.I went for a nap and then when I came back to this ;it became more clear in my mind.
Great lesson. Thaks to emma.
i confuse some points in your lesson, teacher. do you mean comma splice is a mistake of using comma?
this is so cool. With the help of engvid I am more confident to take the ielts exam.
But in the video, she tells that we don’t use comma before a coordinating conjunction which, I feel, is different from what mr alex says in his lesson on coordinating conjunctions.Please do clear my doubt. anyway thanks for your lessons
This is a very useful material; the exercises are also helpful to reinforce the teaching material.
2 renjini Yes, Emma says one thing and the exercise may clear your doubts. Just do it to see what she had really meant.
Emma could you explain very complicated for me grammar. Absolute and appositive noun phrases. My teacher explained me but it was so hard to understand. I will be grateful for you help.
Emma, I was confused.In your comma splice lesson you add FANBOY conjunction “but” and said that we can use comma before it. However you remove it. Can you, please explain it again?
Thanks! Emma
Wow, 9/9!
Good way to brush up english.Thanks Emma!
thank you you always make it sipmle.
Thanks for the good lesson on how to punctuate.
Thank you Emma, it really helped me.
hi Emma, lovely to hear your voice. i’m rly happy to follow ur serious of free english video lessons. be hpy & hv fun
IT IS GOOD REVISION. THANKS EMMA
Hi Emma,
I would like to say you have done a great job! You guys help me a lot. Thanks from the bottom of my heart!
I enjoy this class! Thanks!
Thanks for this lesson teacher! Also thank you for Mr. Mursaleen for giving the useful information.
hai emma, i have a doubt, what r the difference between “i have brought lunch and i brought lunch”
I enjoy this lesson.It has help me out a lot.thank you!
Hi Emma,
after verb in sentence number four did you you say frame sentence ?