Commas & Comma Splices
📋 What it is
A comma separates parts of a sentence; it CANNOT glue two full sentences together (that is a comma splice).
🗣️ Coach says
Two complete sentences joined by only a comma is a “comma splice”. Fix it with a period, a semicolon, or a joining word (and/but/so). BOLT splices sentences constantly — catch the glue that is too weak.
🧠 Memory hook
Two full sentences + only a comma = splice. Fix: . or ; or , + and/but/so.
😂 Giggle
What did the editor say to the run-on sentence?
"You need to stop — period!"
😲 Whoa!
The comma's name comes from a Greek word for "a piece cut off" — it literally marks a small cut in the flow.
🖍️ Grade BOLT-3000's edit for comma splices.
You're the teacher — mark BOLT-3000's work, then reveal how you did. (Grading a robot: all the skill, none of the sting.)
BOLT wrote: “I was tired, I went to bed.”
✗ Needs a fix — comma splice — use a period or a joining word: “I was tired, so I went to bed.”
Two complete sentences need more than a comma to join them.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Find a comma splice in your own writing and fix it three different ways.