Run-on Sentences

Be careful with your sentences, and make sure you are not trying to put too much into one sentence. A run-on sentence is when two independent clauses are fused or “run together” without proper punctuation. If you are discussing two different things in one sentence, it is probably confusing for the reader.

Here are some examples of run-on’s:
“It has been 99 years since I have been in a school environment so this first time was really scary and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.”

And, “It is a field I find most interesting because I have always loved the law, was always watching the tv courts shows when I was home with my babies and I want to help people who have made bad decisions in their past get a knew star.”

Do you see how these sentences have a lot of information and not enough punctuation and therefore are confusing to the reader?

You can fix a run-on four different ways.
• First, you could use a period to separate the clauses, like this: Arts education is important for children’s brain development. It is also fun for everyone!
• Or, you can make a complex sentence by adding a comma and a conjunction: Arts education is important for children’s brain development, and it is fun for everyone!
• Or, you can use a semicolon, a conjunctive adverb, and a comma: Arts education is important for children’s brain development; besides, it is fun for everyone!
• Or, you can add a subordinate word at the beginning of a clause and then join the two clauses: Because arts education is important for children’s brain development, it is also fun for everyone!

Here's a link for further exploration:
Sentence Structure