Run-on Sentences

When readers consider how long some sentences can be and see that some writers never really worry about using proper punctuation or writers forget that humans only have so much breath in our lungs when we to read a sentence aloud, readers and writers would both recognize the nature of the problem posed by long sentences.

Have we made our point? If not, go back and read that sentence aloud. William Faulkner once wrote a story that includes an 1,800 word sentence. The rest of us, who do not win Nobel Prizes in literature, cannot pull off that particular trick. While the example above is extreme, overly long sentences often appear in student--and faculty!--writing.

Here are a few tricks and tips to prevent run-on sentences:

1) Take the sentence apart into its constituent ideas. From the example above, we have these units of thought:

readers thinking about long sentences that writers sometimes use; writers sometimes not worrying about the problem; humans being unable to read big sentences aloud; readers and writers could do something about the problem.

2) Divide the run-on into two or more sentences. Remember that varying sentence lengths avoids the other extreme of too many short, choppy sentences. From our example:

Readers don't always consider how long some sentences can be, and some writers never really worry about using proper punctuation. These writers forget that humans only have so much breath in our lungs. If we read more sentences aloud, readers and writers would both recognize the nature of the problem posed by long sentences.

3) Learn to use semicolons, commas, and transitional phrases well (see our pages on connecting ideas).

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