Sentence structure
A sentence is a group of words that forms a complete meaning: that is, the words can stand by themselves and still make sense. A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop or question mark. All this seems straightforward; however, be careful to avoid the following problems which occur very frequently in students’ work.
Run-on sentences
There are two types of run-on sentence. The most obvious is one in which two (or more) sentences are run together with no punctuation at all between them. Another far more common type occurs when two sentences are joined by a comma, instead of being separated by a full stop. You can also correct this error by joining the sentences with a semi-colon (;), or by placing an appropriate connecting word such as ‘and’, ‘but’ or ‘because’ in front of the second sentence.
Run-on sentence:
Students who do poorly are told to pay attention what 'paying attention' means is never properly examined.
Correct versions:
Students who do poorly are told to pay attention. What 'paying attention' means is never properly examined.
Students who do poorly are told to pay attention, but what 'paying attention' means is never properly examined.
Run-on sentence:
History is bunk, it sends me to sleep.
Correct versions:
History is bunk. It sends me to sleep.
History is bunk; it sends me to sleep.
History is bunk, and it sends me to sleep.
History is bunk, because it sends me to sleep.
Run-on sentence:
The reduction of class sizes will not solve the problem of declining literacy levels in primary school children, a more appropriate solution must be found.
Correct versions:
The reduction of class sizes will not solve the problem of declining literacy levels in primary school children. A more appropriate solution must be found.
The reduction of class sizes will not solve the problem of declining literacy levels in primary school children; a more appropriate solution must be found.
The reduction of class sizes will not solve the problem of declining literacy levels in primary school children, and a more appropriate solution must be found.
