In my last post, I mentioned how important it was to get commas and full stops in the right place, and I promised this time I’d mention some common errors with commas. Here’s something that I call the ‘Comma splice’. I hope you find it useful.

A comma splice is when a comma is used between two main clauses where really a comma is not enough. Take a look at this example:

       It was great to see you last week, thanks for your hospitality.

This is not correct. What we have here are two full sentences, two complete thoughts, so that comma in the middle should be a full stop:

       It was great to see you last week. Thanks for your hospitality.

Another clue here is the word ‘Thanks’, which will always be the first word of a sentence. Unless it follows a conjunction like ‘and’, ‘so’, ‘but’, etc, as we see here:

       It was great to see you last week, and thanks for your hospitality.

Here are some more examples of this comma splice and how they should be corrected:

Wrong:  I ordered more disks, they will be delivered next week.                   

Right:    I ordered more disks, and they will be delivered next week.

Or:        I ordered more disks. They will be delivered next week.

 

Wrong:  Please look into this immediately, I need your report
              by 28 November.

Right:    Please look into this immediately. I need your report
              by 28 November.

Or:        Please look into this immediately and let me have your report
             by 28 November.

 

Wrong:  We have removed clause 9, this is because of current market
              conditions.

Right:     We have removed clause 9 because of current market
               conditions.

 Or:          We have removed clause 9. This is because of current market
               conditions. 

Tip: Read sentences out loud to hear the pace and rhythm.
This will help you get the punctuation in the right place.


Next time: More common errors with commas: Fused sentences.