Fused Sentence, Also Called Run On Sentence

Download Free PDF Worksheets

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Worksheet 1, Fused Sentences, 9 Exercises
Worksheet 2, Fused Sentences, 14 Exercises

Worksheet 1 provides an explanation of fused sentences, along with directions on correcting them. Worksheet 2 provides 14 exercises, with ample space for students to write out the answers in complete sentences.

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This 8-page PDF key has suggested answers for all 23 exercises in the worksheet, along with techniques for teaching students how to correct fused sentences in a rhetorically meaningful manner. You get the answer key and teaching tips -- eight pages with answers (always two or more per exercise) and teaching tips. If you cannot afford the $0.75 (seventy-five cents) or you feel uncomfortable paying for this resource, email me. I will send you the answer key with tips. If you find the answer key worth your while, then come back here and pay $0.75.

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The Problem

A fused sentence occurs when two independent clauses are joined (fused) without any punctuation.

Some handbooks and teachers use the term "run on sentence" to refer both to fused sentences and comma splices. Some students think that a run-on sentence is a particularly long sentence, one that "runs on" for a while. It's not.

A comma splice (http://www.grammar-worksheets.com/comma.splice.htm), occurs when two independent clauses are joined only with a comma. I prefer to avoid the term run on sentence altogether and use only the terms comma splice and fused sentence. They are more specific and more descriptive.

Example of a fused sentence: My father designs and installs wind turbines he travels all over the United States as an energy consultant.

Notice that we have two ideas in two independent clauses:

  • My father installs and designs wind turbines.
  • He travels all over the United States as an energy consultant.

Fixing a Fused Sentence

  • Place a period between the two main ideas.
  • Place a semicolon between the two main ideas.

For a more detailed explanation and exercises in correcting fused sentences, download the free worksheets. Each worksheet is in PDF format.

The front page tells the student what a fused sentence is and how to correct it. The second page consists of sentences that the student must correct. There is space provided below each sentence, so that the student actually has to write out the sentence, rather than merely identifying an error. The other worksheets are made up entirely of exercises.

Worksheet 1, 9 Exercises

The following exercises are in the free PDF worksheets. The worksheets may be reproduced freely, and students must write out the complete, correct sentence.

  1. Janine's uncle never graduated from high school he started his own landscaping company at sixteen.
  2. I have had a Mac computer for a year already I have no regrets about buying it.
  3. People make their way across the desert they arrive in trucks with little ventilation, and they are often beaten by the men who smuggle them.
  4. These political victories add up It's not just money, but dignity at home and on the job.
  5. Immigrants can be sentenced to prison most are sent back to their native homelands.
  6. Jammal's supervisor installed a new fingerprint reader when employees arrive they must enter an employee number and place their index finger on a small sensor.
  7. The teacher distributed several worksheets some of them were taken directly from the textbook.
  8. Amar Chang has a goal in fourteen consecutive matches he is three shy of the record.
  9. The dog jumped and barked near the lake he noticed an alligator swimming toward shore.

Worksheet 2, 14 Exercises

  1. Trees lay on the side of the road they looked as if they had been pulled out of the ground by huge machines.
  2. Every wall was smashed to rubble the only thing left of those houses was the land and the rocks from the rubble.
  3. My heart broke the owners had no insurance.
  4. The town looked deserted the streets were so dark and empty that the only thing we could hear was the wind blowing.
  5. We worked from dusk to dawn never had so many contracts been written in such a short time.
  6. Money continued to flow in we started to live the life of the rich on weekends we ate at expensive restaurants.
  7. The river extended beyond the mountains we saw the clouds merge with the water in the horizon.
  8. Men and women drink coffee because it adds to their sense of well-being it not only smells good and tastes good to all mankind, heathen or civilized all respond to its wonderful stimulating properties.
  9. Caffeine supplies the principal stimulant it increases the capacity for muscular and mental work without harmful reaction.
  10. Like all good things in life, the drinking of coffee may be abused those having an idiosyncratic susceptibility to alkaloids should be temperate in the use of tea, coffee, or cocoa.
  11. In every high-tensioned country there is likely to be a small number of people who, because of certain individual characteristics, cannot drink coffee at all these belong to the abnormal minority of the human family.
  12. Some people cannot eat strawberries that would not be a valid reason for a general condemnation of strawberries.
  13. Some writers claim for Persia the discovery of the coffee drink there is no evidence to support the claim.
  14. The Persians appear to have used considerable intelligence in handling the political phase of the coffee-house question it never became necessary to order them suppressed in Persia.

Links for Fused Sentence

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