Activity: Correcting Run-Ons

Correcting Run-ons Activity

Using the four methods that you read about, correct the following run-on sentences. Be sure to use each method at least once to get practice.

1. Our cat was pacing back and forth making a weird high pitched chirping sound a bird had gotten in the house through the chimney.
2. Chrystal works really long hours at her job seven days a week she always stops work by dinner time to enjoy the evening with her family.
3. Classes were canceled for the day snow was falling so hard that it was impossible to see the roads.
4. Leroy loved relaxing in the pool on a hot day he really hated having to clean it at the beginning of each summer.
5. The nurse took three blood samples the lab ran tests on them.

Source: Erin Severs
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License.

Answer Key

1. Our cat was pacing back and forth making a weird high pitched chirping sound because a bird had gotten in the house through the chimney.
2. Chrystal works really long hours at her job seven days a week, but she always stops work by dinner time to enjoy the evening with her family.
3. Classes were canceled for the day because snow was falling so hard that it was impossible to see the roads.
4. Leroy loved relaxing in the pool on a hot day, but he really hated having to clean it at the beginning of each summer.
5. After the nurse took three blood samples, the lab ran tests on them.

Correcting Run-ons in a Paragraph Activity

Read the following paragraph and find the run-ons and comma-splices. Then rewrite the paragraph using the four methods that you read about to correct the run-ons and comma-splices. Be sure to use different methods to get practice and to give the paragraph a variety of types of sentences.

Answer Key

Just in the last week, I have had several experiences where people have not been who they seemed or appeared to be. First was the attractive woman I saw walking and drinking a cup of coffee outside the library window on Monday. She was very pretty, and the outfit she was wearing was really flattering. In addition, her hair was perfect even though it was really windy outside.  However, when she finished her coffee, she tossed the empty cup into a nearby hedge. Seeing this disappointed me; she no longer seemed very attractive anymore. Then on Wednesday, I started talking to a person in my psychology class named Austin. Austin seemed to be a great person. He always got the class laughing with his jokes. On the days when he was absent, I think even the professor missed his lively personality. When Austin asked me if I wanted to eat lunch in the cafeteria with him, I felt happy that he had chosen me to hang out with. This feeling dramatically changed when we were sitting in the cafeteria. Austin took out an envelope with several kinds of pills inside, and he asked me, "Do you want one? They are a really good time". I didn't want one and was upset that this person I had thought was "great" was actually a drug-user. Lastly, just yesterday, I was talking to a friend I only know online. He and I have had a lot of great conversations about politics and music; we have a lot in common. Unfortunately, when I mentioned that I was an atheist, he cussed at me, told me I was going to hell, and blocked me. I was really disappointed that he was so judgmental and not the interesting and open-minded person I had thought he was. It seems that people are not always what they may first appear to be.