13. The Comma Splice, or making a comma do slave labor and discovering the connection of a comma to walking around naked

The comma splice is, perhaps, the most common mistake in writing. I say “perhaps” because I know of no real statistics about such things, but it does seem that it is one of the most common mistakes that student writers make. It’s an example of using commas to do more that they should, hence my reference to slave labor in my title. Commas are tricky in that they have several uses, more so than any other punctuation mark, which is why not using them is often as hard as using them. And to avoid the comma splice error you have to not use a comma but use some other punctuation instead.

What is this error? A comma splice error is using a comma to join to complete sentences. Here is an example: A comma splice error is common in student writing, in fact it’s very common.

What is the solution? There is an easy way to correct the comma splice error: use a period to end the first sentence. Here is the solution: A comma splice error is common in student writing. In fact, it’s very common.

Is this the best solution? There is no easy way to answer that question since that question is also a question of style. You see a naked person wandering down the street. You quickly put a coat on the person. Perhaps the coat is old; perhaps it is out of style. That doesn’t really matter. All you are doing is trying to deal with the problem. It’s similar to this problem. You can easily fix the problem with exchanging the comma with a period. But a better solution, one with more style, would be to use a semi-colon. Here is that more stylish solution: A comma splice error is common in student writing; in fact, it’s very common.

Is this, more stylish solution, the best solution? A better solution would be to use a colon instead of a semi-colon. A semi-colon just joins two complete and closely related sentences. A colon also joins them but indicates that the second one is closely related and subordinate to the first one. Here is that solution: A comma splice error is common in student writing: in fact, it’s very common.

You may think that the difference between using a semi-colon and a colon is a very minor difference. And that is true. However, it is the overall effect of a lot of minor differences that make for sentence style.

Now you know the connection of a naked person and the comma splice: amuse and astound your friends with this new knowledge.

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