Hello composition pirates.
When assigned to bring in one question about the syllabus, the most popular question was:
“What is a comma splice?”
Well, dear readers, I’ll tell you.
A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined together with only a comma, instead of using a comma with a coordinating conjunction like: and, or, but, yet, so, nor, for. An independent clause is a group of words that has a complete subject and a complete predicate–it is a complete sentence and can exist on its own as such. So, let me lay this out for you:
“At Hudson Valley Community College I play hackey sack, it is my life.”
The above sentence has a comma splice. On either side of the above comma is a complete sentence. “At Hudson Valley Community College” is a complete sentence, and “it is my life” is a complete sentence. These two independent clauses are joined together with only a comma, and a comma is not powerful enough by itself to join to ICs. You could add a coordinating conjunction to that comma to correct the sentence:
“At Hudson Valley Community College I play hackey sack, for ["for" is the coordinating conjunction] it is my life.”
There are other methods of also marrying independent clauses together. You can use a semicolon, for instance. But that will be another lesson.
Good syllabus questions! More answers to come!
