On Chapter 20 from “Rules for Writers” by Diana Hacker, she talks about run-on sentences, how to recognize them, and solutions to consider while revising them. A run-on sentence is the union of two independent clauses incorrectly. Hacker explains that when 2 independent clauses are united as one, a comma and a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon should be added in order to have a smooth transition. There are only seven coordinating conjunctions in the English language, which are: and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet. Also, Hacker gives three basic questions to ask when checking for run-on sentences, and she suggests four ways to solve it. Those are: using a comma and adding a coordinating conjunction, using a semicolon, a colon or a dash, make the clauses into separate sentences, and restructure the sentence by subordinating one of the clauses. It’s important to keep in mind two things while using semicolons, first that these are more appropriate in formal writing than colons and dashes, and second that these can be use on their own or accompanied by a transition word.
I feel this is an area where I need the most help on. I read the chapter and I understand the concept, yet I’d need to read it a few more times to fully get it down. There’s this other book I bought for a previous English class that help me with this problem; whatever I could learn from both books would be useful.
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