Run-On Sentences and the Superheroes of Punctuation - By WarnerJordanEducation
00:04 | Yeah . Hello and welcome to our podcast on the | |
00:12 | run on sentence . Ideally , you've been watching the | |
00:16 | other podcasts on phrases and clauses and that so that | |
00:20 | you are familiar with some of these important grammatical terms | |
00:23 | , because we're going to be using those in context | |
00:25 | here . And so , as we were talking about | |
00:28 | in class , oftentimes we need a strong foundation for | |
00:31 | a house , and phrases and clauses serve as strong | |
00:34 | foundations for our sentences . And so we're going to | |
00:37 | go ahead and use those terms . So if you | |
00:39 | have not watched those other podcasts , please make sure | |
00:42 | you do . Or some of this may not make | |
00:44 | complete sense . If you have watched those and you're | |
00:46 | ready to get onto the run on sentence , here | |
00:49 | we go . Let's talk about that . So , | |
00:51 | first off , a definition a run on sentence is | |
00:54 | when you have to complete sentences that are joined incorrectly | |
00:59 | as one sentence . So if we use the terminology | |
01:03 | since a complete sentence is an independent clause , a | |
01:08 | run on happens when we have two independent clauses that | |
01:12 | have been joined incorrectly . Now it's not that you | |
01:16 | can't join to complete sentences or independent causes you can | |
01:21 | . We advise you to . We want you to | |
01:24 | . We're hoping that you will , because it adds | |
01:25 | some variety to our writing , but we just need | |
01:28 | to make sure that we're doing it correctly . And | |
01:31 | so the quote unquote fancier we get with our sentences | |
01:35 | , the more careful we have to become with them | |
01:37 | . Because if we just start throwing things together and | |
01:39 | disregarding punctuation and grammar , then we have the strong | |
01:43 | potential of hitting a snag . And that snag is | |
01:46 | in the form of a run on . So where | |
01:48 | are you most likely to run into a run on | |
01:51 | in your own writing ? One way is when the | |
01:53 | writer is trying to add sentence variety , which is | |
01:57 | something we like . It's something that we ask you | |
01:59 | guys to do , but you screw it up , | |
02:03 | and I don't mean you only have students . We | |
02:05 | as writers , as professional writers , as adult writers | |
02:08 | . We do it all the time to we have | |
02:10 | to go back and proof in our own work . | |
02:12 | Try to avoid those situations where we have created run | |
02:16 | ons to make those more clear . Perhaps also , | |
02:19 | the writer is just trying to write a complete sentence | |
02:21 | and is not familiar with those four elements of the | |
02:24 | complete sentence fact that needs a subject verb , complete | |
02:28 | thought and complete punctuation . Oftentimes when we're writing , | |
02:32 | we just throw in a period because we're done . | |
02:34 | Well , maybe that didn't encapsulate the complete idea . | |
02:38 | And therefore we have erroneously or in error , created | |
02:42 | a run on . So we just wanna make sure | |
02:43 | that our sentences have all four elements of a complete | |
02:46 | sentence . So regardless of why this has actually happened | |
02:50 | , we need to know that run ons are grammatical | |
02:53 | errors . They often times cause confusion because when they're | |
02:57 | being read by educated readers such as people in academics | |
03:01 | , meaning your peers or teachers or people that you're | |
03:04 | applying to for grants or things like that , you're | |
03:08 | causing confusion . They're not able to understand what you're | |
03:11 | trying to say . So it's not just that you've | |
03:13 | broken a grammatical rule , but you're becoming unclear . | |
03:16 | And so we need to make sure that we are | |
03:18 | fixing these so that clarity is what's getting across in | |
03:22 | our writing . So in terms of the proofreading flow | |
03:25 | chart , we're going back looking at our work and | |
03:28 | fixing it up , revising the ideas , but then | |
03:30 | proof reading for grammar capitalization things like that . Our | |
03:34 | little radars for run ons should probably be set off | |
03:37 | when we have sentences that have been combined or when | |
03:41 | we have started to combine multiple ideas into one sentence | |
03:45 | . So if we have joined two clauses together meaning | |
03:48 | that each could stand on its own and we've chosen | |
03:50 | to join them , we have the potential for a | |
03:53 | run on . But at the same time , maybe | |
03:56 | we did it right . And so we need to | |
03:58 | be careful and look at the grammatical level of these | |
04:01 | two , truly determine if we have a run on | |
04:02 | or not . So this is where we need to | |
04:04 | know clauses if we have to independent causes and they're | |
04:08 | joined . Okay , we're totally fine . No run | |
04:12 | on there . But if we screwed it up , | |
04:14 | if we tried to be too fancy , if we | |
04:15 | have ignored the rules , then we might have a | |
04:18 | run on . So here's some examples of run on | |
04:21 | sentences just to kind of see what they feel like | |
04:24 | . First one says John is a very talented runner | |
04:27 | . He has won many awards . We have to | |
04:31 | complete sentences that have been jammed together . The first | |
04:35 | one is John is a very talented runner that could | |
04:38 | stand completely on its own . The second one is | |
04:41 | he has won many awards . That , too , | |
04:44 | could stand completely on its own . But for whatever | |
04:47 | reason , the author has chosen to put them together | |
04:50 | . And so this is where we have the potential | |
04:52 | for a run on scenario . And in this particular | |
04:55 | case , we do have a run on , because | |
04:57 | all this writer did was take to complete sentences , | |
05:01 | removed one period , removed one capital letter and smash | |
05:04 | them together and then re put a capital to beginning | |
05:07 | in a period at the end . And just because | |
05:09 | you have a capital at the beginning and a period | |
05:11 | at the end doesn't necessarily make it a complete sentence | |
05:14 | . So let's go ahead and keep looking and see | |
05:16 | if we can figure out what's going on here . | |
05:18 | One of the steps you want to take when trying | |
05:21 | to see if you have a run on or the | |
05:23 | potential for a run on scenario is to see . | |
05:25 | Do I even have to independent clauses that have been | |
05:29 | stuck together ? The key is there . That they | |
05:31 | have to be independent clause is not a dependent clause | |
05:37 | stuck properly to an independent . One we have to | |
05:40 | see are these two truly independent clauses and then just | |
05:44 | stuck together . For example , the sun is high | |
05:48 | . Put on some sunblock . You can see that | |
05:51 | there are two independent clauses here . The sun is | |
05:53 | high , Could stand on its own and put on | |
05:57 | some sunblock could stand on its own . So we | |
05:59 | have to independent clauses . Okay , Interesting . We | |
06:02 | may have a run on in this case we do | |
06:05 | , but we at this point , we just need | |
06:06 | to identify . Do we have to independent clauses ? | |
06:09 | Next one . Most of the cars air in the | |
06:11 | shop . This proves my point about old cars being | |
06:14 | unreliable again . We have to independent clauses that have | |
06:18 | been erroneously stuck together . Most of the cars were | |
06:22 | in the shop . That's one then the other is | |
06:26 | this proves my point about old cars being reliable . | |
06:29 | We could choose to keep those separate and make two | |
06:32 | sentences . But the student has for some reason chosen | |
06:35 | to push them together . Unfortunately , they have done | |
06:38 | it incorrectly . So what do we dio ? What | |
06:41 | if our run on radar's go off and like , | |
06:44 | all right , I've got a really complicated sentence . | |
06:47 | It has an independent clause and another independent clause and | |
06:50 | they're stuck together . I think I might have a | |
06:52 | run on . Oh my goodness , I totally do | |
06:55 | have a run on . So here's what we do | |
06:56 | . We have three common ways of fixing run ons | |
06:59 | . We call them the Superheroes of punctuation Number one | |
07:04 | , Superman , number two , Aquaman and number three | |
07:09 | , The Wonder Twins . Let's go ahead and explain | |
07:12 | what we mean here because I get it . We | |
07:13 | don't often talk about superheroes what we're talking about punctuation | |
07:16 | and grammar . So let's explain these a little bit | |
07:19 | more . Yeah , all right . So let's go | |
07:22 | ahead and look at each of these superheroes of punctuation | |
07:25 | in a little bit more detail and see if we | |
07:26 | could make clear our metaphor for how we might want | |
07:30 | to correct run on sentences . So our first one | |
07:33 | is Superman and in So if you remember from the | |
07:36 | comics or the movies , he is exceptionally powerful , | |
07:40 | and in our metaphor he is so powerful that he | |
07:43 | can end a sentence in a single piece of punctuation | |
07:47 | , and that single piece of punctuation is a period | |
07:51 | . And so , if you are looking at your | |
07:53 | sentence in your paper and you realize that Hey , | |
07:56 | you have a run on . The easiest way to | |
08:00 | correct that run on is to take that really complicated | |
08:05 | inappropriately joined sentence and break it into two sentences . | |
08:11 | Take your first independent clause , end it with a | |
08:14 | period , begin your next one with a capital letter | |
08:18 | and call it good . So all you're doing is | |
08:22 | finding the break of the two independent clauses and you | |
08:26 | are putting a period in between them and separating those | |
08:29 | into two sentences . So that is Superman , exceptionally | |
08:33 | powerful , so powerful he can end it in one | |
08:37 | piece of punctuation . The next part of our metaphor | |
08:40 | is what we call Aquaman . Now bear with me | |
08:44 | for a minute . Aquaman isn't as cool a Superman | |
08:48 | . He can't fly . He doesn't have , like | |
08:50 | laser vision . He's not bulletproof . Things like that | |
08:53 | e mean his greatest superpower is that he can talk | |
08:56 | to marine animals . I think it's kind of lame | |
09:00 | , like , Oh , no , there's a crime | |
09:01 | going on . The best thing I could do is | |
09:03 | call all of my fish friends . No hay . | |
09:06 | That is kind of cool . I mean , I | |
09:08 | can't call any fish friends . I don't have any | |
09:10 | dolphins . That just show up when I have an | |
09:12 | issue . Aquaman does . So let's give him some | |
09:15 | credit . The point is this , though . He's | |
09:19 | sort of cool . He's even semi cool . And | |
09:23 | so the Aquaman way off correcting a run on is | |
09:27 | to use the piece of punctuation that we call the | |
09:30 | semi Colon because it is semi cool , just like | |
09:35 | Aquaman . And so here's what we do . We | |
09:38 | can go ahead and look at our long run on | |
09:40 | and notice . Hey , we've got to independent clauses | |
09:43 | that have been jammed together , and what we do | |
09:45 | in this case is that we separate those by the | |
09:48 | use of a semi colon . We have our first | |
09:51 | independent clause . We place a semi colon and then | |
09:55 | we begin our next independent clause . After that , | |
09:59 | we don't use a capital letter at the beginning of | |
10:01 | the second clause because truly , that whole thing is | |
10:05 | still one sentence . We're just taking the two clauses | |
10:10 | and dividing it up into two . But what we're | |
10:13 | doing is independent clause than a semi colon and then | |
10:17 | the other independent clause . Now , the third way | |
10:21 | we can correct run ins in our metaphor of the | |
10:23 | superheroes is what we call the wonder twins of punctuation | |
10:28 | . Now , if we thought like Aquaman was pretty | |
10:30 | lame , the Wonder Twins are probably the most lame | |
10:34 | of all superheroes . It was , ah , horrendous | |
10:36 | show , I think in the eighties , when they | |
10:39 | were on and the wonder twins were out there fighting | |
10:41 | crime . But here's how they worked . So basically | |
10:45 | we have these twins , a boy and a girl | |
10:48 | , and they're out there fighting crime . Now they | |
10:50 | have the special power , and then they could change | |
10:52 | into things . But if my memory is correct , | |
10:55 | the boy could Onley change into animate objects . You | |
10:59 | know , like a bird or ah , bug or | |
11:02 | something that was alive . The girl could Onley change | |
11:05 | into inanimate objects , things like a rock , a | |
11:10 | bucket , maybe even a bucket of water , things | |
11:13 | like that . And so the way these two fought | |
11:16 | crime is if they would put their rings together and | |
11:19 | say one on , they would turn into a nan | |
11:25 | emit object and an inanimate object , and then they | |
11:28 | would somehow between the two of them , be able | |
11:29 | to fight crime . The point is this . If | |
11:33 | the boy turned into an eagle , he was completely | |
11:36 | useless and fighting crime because he's just a eagle . | |
11:38 | Like what's he gonna do , like , fly around | |
11:40 | and poop on him or something ? If the girl | |
11:43 | changed into her thing , which was maybe a bucket | |
11:45 | of water , what good is she going to dio | |
11:48 | ? None is just going to sit there and do | |
11:49 | nothing . So in the show , they needed toe | |
11:52 | work together . They both change into whatever they're changing | |
11:55 | into . And then the eagle would pick up that | |
11:58 | bucket of water , fly it over the bad guy | |
12:00 | , dropped the bucket on them , the person would | |
12:02 | rust or melt or something , cause it was water | |
12:05 | and then the crime was solved . The key to | |
12:08 | remember in the metaphor here is that both things needed | |
12:11 | to be there . And so our piece of punctuation | |
12:15 | that we're going to use to help us correct run | |
12:18 | ons that we're calling the Wonder twins is the idea | |
12:22 | of using a comma and a coordinating conjunction between our | |
12:27 | independent clauses . In case we don't remember , a | |
12:30 | coordinating conjunction is one of those connective words that connects | |
12:34 | coordinating items . And coordinating in grammar means items of | |
12:39 | the same level of importance . So , for example | |
12:43 | , we have these four and nor but or yet | |
12:49 | . And so these are your coordinating conjunctions , And | |
12:53 | the acronym we like to use is what we call | |
12:56 | Fanboys . And so these air the coordinating conjunctions that | |
13:00 | we would need to use with a comma in order | |
13:04 | to correct run on . So if we have our | |
13:07 | run on , we realize there's two independent clauses joined | |
13:10 | incorrectly . What we can do is we can take | |
13:13 | our first independent clause , follow it by a comma | |
13:18 | , then one of our coordinating conjunctions , depending on | |
13:23 | the situation and how they need to be attached and | |
13:26 | then move on to our next independent clause , please | |
13:30 | notice . Just like the Wonder twins . You can't | |
13:33 | fight crime with just one of them . You can't | |
13:36 | correct a run on with just a comma or with | |
13:40 | just a coordinating conjunction . You must have both of | |
13:44 | those working between the two independent clauses in order to | |
13:48 | fix that run on . If you use just one | |
13:51 | , then you still have a run on sentence . | |
13:54 | So the big warning in all of this is we | |
13:57 | have to make sure that we're correcting true run on | |
14:00 | sentences . This is what we have to know . | |
14:02 | The differences between clauses , phrases , dependent clauses and | |
14:07 | independent causes . If we don't have to independent causes | |
14:12 | stuck together , we may not have a run on | |
14:15 | . So when we're looking at a sentence that maybe | |
14:18 | has a dependent clause at the beginning , followed by | |
14:22 | a comma and then attached to an independent clause , | |
14:26 | that is a complete and fine sentence because we don't | |
14:31 | have to independent causes . We have one that's dependent | |
14:34 | and one that's independent and they are joined correctly . | |
14:37 | So we have to examine the words . We have | |
14:39 | to examine the structures and we have to examine the | |
14:41 | punctuation . We can't just look at this and go | |
14:44 | Wow , that is a bunch of words . Clearly | |
14:46 | , it's a run on because we it may not | |
14:48 | be . We need to look at these structures that | |
14:51 | are in place already . So in the next couple | |
14:54 | slides , go ahead and read each sentence . Pause | |
14:57 | the podcast so that you can think about this , | |
14:59 | but do your best to punctuate each sentence correctly . | |
15:03 | When you're finished , go ahead and restart the podcast | |
15:06 | and you'll be able to see your answers on the | |
15:07 | next one and see if you are getting these correct | |
15:10 | or not . So here are the answers for the | |
15:13 | first one , the Nazis attacked Poland to start World | |
15:17 | War Two . It was horrible . You have to | |
15:21 | independent clauses there . We need to correct them in | |
15:23 | one of three ways this particular one we chose to | |
15:27 | separated by the use of the semi colon or Aquaman | |
15:32 | . So we now have the first clause . The | |
15:34 | Nazis attacked Poland to start World War Two semicolon . | |
15:38 | It was horrible . Number two , The Polish army | |
15:42 | did its best , and they tried to stop the | |
15:45 | dangerous blitzkrieg . Both sides of those are independent clauses | |
15:51 | . Now in the original , they just use the | |
15:53 | word . And unfortunately , that's like using one of | |
15:57 | the two wonder twins . We need to have a | |
15:58 | comma and a conjunction . So to correct it as | |
16:02 | is we're going to say the Polish army did its | |
16:05 | best comma and they tried to stop the dangerous blitzkrieg | |
16:10 | that allows us to put those two independent clauses together | |
16:13 | , joined correctly now by the use of the Wonder | |
16:16 | twins , number three is a little bit tricky . | |
16:19 | Even though the Nazis advanced through Poland comma , they | |
16:23 | did not invade the Soviet Union at that time . | |
16:27 | Our first group of words acting as a unit is | |
16:30 | a dependent clause . It needs to be stuck to | |
16:34 | something . So even though the Nazis advanced through Poland | |
16:38 | , that's a dependent clause . It has to be | |
16:40 | stuck to something . So they took the dependent clause | |
16:44 | and they stuck it to an independent clause . And | |
16:46 | just like we talked about before . If you have | |
16:48 | intro material , it must be followed by a comma | |
16:53 | . So even though the Nazis advanced through Poland comma | |
16:56 | , they did not invade the Soviet Union . That | |
16:59 | is correct now because we've added a comma between our | |
17:02 | intro material and our independent clause , which comes after | |
17:06 | that comma . So here's where it matters . You | |
17:08 | got to know the difference between dependent and independent clauses | |
17:12 | . Then we can see that this one just is | |
17:14 | intro material . We just Atacama call it good . | |
17:17 | Here's a couple more to practice with . All right | |
17:25 | , So just to summarize this and bring it to | |
17:27 | a close , please just remember that if you have | |
17:29 | two independent clauses that air joined together , you may | |
17:33 | have a run on scenario . If you do , | |
17:36 | we need to correct it . The three easy ways | |
17:38 | are Superman , Aquaman and the Wonder Twins Superman being | |
17:42 | . Take that one run on sentence and split it | |
17:45 | into two , using a period Aquaman being . Take | |
17:49 | that one long run on of two independent clauses and | |
17:52 | put a semi colon between the two . And then | |
17:55 | the Wonder twins being go ahead and use a comma | |
17:58 | and a conjunction between the two independent clauses . Either | |
18:02 | way , we have to first identify independent clauses to | |
18:07 | see if we have stuck these together with something in | |
18:09 | error and then three . If we have , we | |
18:12 | need to correct them . The last warning is , | |
18:15 | Be careful . You may have just have a dependent | |
18:18 | clause stuck to an independent clause , and if you | |
18:22 | do , that's where you could have that dependent clause | |
18:25 | , followed by a comma leading into your independent clause | |
18:29 | . If it's not dependent and it is something else | |
18:33 | , you have to be aware of what you have | |
18:34 | and then remember the rules to punctuate it . You | |
18:37 | can't just throw commas around . There are rules , | |
18:40 | so please make sure that you understand the differences in | |
18:42 | the types of causes and phrases , and then how | |
18:45 | they're being used in your particular sentence . You may | |
18:49 | have a run on . You may not . The | |
18:51 | fact remains that run on Zahra a big issue in | |
18:54 | young people's writing way really wanna work to correct those | |
18:57 | get those out of our writing so that we could | |
18:59 | be more clear and communicate more effectively . So hopefully | |
19:03 | this was helpful . As always , Bring in any | |
19:05 | questions you might have . We'll go over those in | |
19:07 | class and we will move forward from there . Thanks | |
19:10 | so much . We'll see you soon . |
DESCRIPTION:
This longer but engaging tutorial is on how to fix run-on sentences
OVERVIEW:
Run-On Sentences and the Superheroes of Punctuation is a free educational video by WarnerJordanEducation.It helps students in grades 4 practice the following standards L.4.1.F, L.4.2,.
This page not only allows students and teachers view Run-On Sentences and the Superheroes of Punctuation but also find engaging Sample Questions, Apps, Pins, Worksheets, Books related to the following topics.
1. L.4.1.F : Produce complete sentences, recognizing and correcting inappropriate fragments and run-ons.*.