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Question:

natalie1210
natalie1210
Student
High School - 10th Grade

Which of the following is a run-on?

A) Sara's parents tell her that they never worried about her like they did with Caroline, but Sara wants someone to feel concern for her.

B) Sara makes friends with a sea captain, he supports Caroline's decisions about going to music school, Sara feels betrayed.

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Posted by natalie1210 on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 4:50 PM and tagged with question, reference.

Answers:

  1. lhc
    lhc Teacher
    Middle School

    eNotes Editor

    B is a run-on because it is constructed of 3 independent clauses (sentences) connected with commas but no conjunctions.  To connect these without conjunctions would require the use of a semi-colon. 

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    Posted by lhc on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 5:31 PM

  2. speamerfam
    speamerfam Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    As I learned grammar, neither one of these sentences would be called a run-on sentence. The second sentence is one I refer to as a comma splice, which is an attempt to glue two sentences together with a comma.  A comma alone is glue that cannot make two statements stick together.  You can use a comma and a conjunction, a semi-colon, or begin a new sentence to fix a comma splice.  Here are some examples for you:

    I love to bake, apple pie is my specialty.  (comma splice)

    To fix the comma splice:

    I love to bake, and apple pie is my specialty.

    I love to bake; apple pie is my specialty.

    I love to bake.  Apple pie is my specialty.

    You might want to check with your teacher to clarify what he or she considers a run-on or a comma splice.  It is clear that different teachers can have different ideas about this.

    Good luck to you! 

    Sources:
    http://grammartips.homestead.com/splice.html

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    Posted by speamerfam on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 7:43 PM

  3. mrsf
    mrsf Teacher
    Elementary / Primary

    Letter B. Instead of commas, three periods could be used because they are all sentences.

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    Posted by mrsf on Monday March 30, 2009 at 10:45 PM


  4. marlon0607 Student
    High School - 11th Grade

    It is definetly letter B.

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    Posted by marlon0607 on Monday May 11, 2009 at 9:19 PM

  5. davidgeorge
    davidgeorge Student
    High School - 11th Grade

    thats obvious its B). it just runs on first about sea captain, then music school then about betrayal.no commas

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    Posted by davidgeorge on Thursday May 28, 2009 at 7:00 PM