ShmoopTube

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Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by run-on sentences.

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They really just don't know when to stop.

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How should you change the underlined portion below, if at all?

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The university's plan for expansion included a new arts building and a new library, if

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the funding drive is successful, there will be enough money for both.

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Let's just kick (A) to the curb right from the get-go. There's no way this big mess of

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a sentence doesn't need any changes.

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No worries, though. We'll find a way to clean it up.

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"The university's plan for expansion included a new arts building and a new library" is

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one complete independent clause, while "if the funding drive is successful, there will

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be enough money for both" is another.

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By connecting these two independent clauses with nothing but a comma, the original sentence

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becomes one big nasty comma splice.

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If possible, choice (B) makes an even bigger mess out of the situation by not putting any

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punctuation at all between our two independent clauses.

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We know that two independent clauses that are jammed together without a conjunction

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or the proper punctuation are what's known as a run-on or fused sentence.

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(D) does get one thing right by using a semicolon to connect our independent clauses.

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This is one of the semicolon's main jobs, and here it does that job well. At times,

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it can be a great way to fix a run-on sentence.

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However, choice (D) lets us down by allowing a comma to run wild.

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"If the funding drive is successful" is an introductory phrase, which sets the stage

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for the main clause to come.

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In this case, the phrase starts with the preposition "if," so we know that this particular introductory

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phrase is what's known as a prepositional phrase.

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Anyway, whenever a sentence starts with an introductory phrase, it's important to set

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it apart with a comma to help with clarity.

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Choice (D), however, places the comma directly after the preposition "if," rather than after

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the phrase as a whole.

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This, of course, is incorrect, so while it impressed us with its semicolon, (D) gets

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disqualified for its sloppy comma use.

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Choice (C) solves our original comma splice issue correctly by separating the two independent

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clauses with a period.

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Now they're each free to be themselves, without the other all up in its business all the time.

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Like Brad and Jennifer or Ben and J-lo, some couples just aren't meant

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to be together...

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