Practice Exercises:
Fix each of the following run-on sentences by separating the independent clauses with a period:
1. Gary found the old coin in a far corner of the park it was hidden beneath a bench.
2. I was so surprised at the weather in Canada I expected it to be hot by the month of May.
Fix each of the following run-on sentences by separating the independent clauses with a
semicolon:
3. The movie we saw was too boring I fell asleep after the first half hour.
4. Reading is a skill you can learn practice every day and you can get faster.
Fix each of the following run-on sentences by adding a comma and a coordinating
conjunction.
5. We walked to the coffee shop we drank one of the best lattes I’ve ever had.
6. I hurt my hand at the gym I had to stop typing for a few days.
Fix the run-on sentence by turning one of the independent clauses into a subordinate one
and separating them with a comma.
7. The bicycle was too big the little girl had trouble riding it.
8. The days are so short in the winter I have to get up earlier to see more daylight.
Fix these run-on sentences by using some of the techniques above:
9. The volleyball player caught the volleyball he threw it to another player. The player missed it
and the ball bounced the referee did not see it so the game continued. The referee shouted the
player was so startled that he fell over.
10. I did not get a haircut for months my hair was really long I made an appointment at the hair salon. I gave the hair stylist my phone with a photo of the hair style I wanted she began looking through all of my photos I was so embarrassed!

RUN-ON AND FRAGMENT EXERCISE
Below are examples of the four most common kinds of sentence errors, with an abbreviation next to each. In the practice exercises that follow, write the abbreviation that describes each numbered group of words in the space to its left.
S = sentence Since he was feeling hungry, John cooked dinner.
F = fragment Since he was feeling hungry.
CS = comma splice John was feeling hungry, he cooked dinner.
FS = fused sentence John was feeling hungry he cooked dinner
___1. One of the most popular films of all time being King Kong a film about a giant gorilla.
___2. Protests against immorality which became very strong by 1928.
___3. Movements toward censorship and federal regulations began.
___4. In the 1970's a new kind of spectacular became popular it allowed the public to have an almost real experience with disaster.
___5. In 1930 the movie industry adopted the Production Code, which probably saved the industry from government control.
___ 6. Then there are the ever-popular Disney cartoons.
___ 7. Since the industry agreed to control itself from within.
___ 8. Some films like Earthquake and Midway which treated the audience to the sights and sounds -- and the sensations of disaster.
___9. In essence the code states that movies may portray immoral conduct but may not advocate it.
___10. Jaws, an unusually frightening film about a shark's attacking swimmers at a popular beach area.
___11. War may not seem a likely booster for the film industry.
___12. The duel between hero and villain that dates back to the earliest western could still hold audiences spellbound in High Noon and will doubtless reappear as long as westerns are made.