run-on sentence


noun

a written sequence of two or more main clauses that are not separated by a period or semicolon or joined by a conjunction.
Also called fused sentence.
Compare comma fault.

Origin of run-on sentence

First recorded in 1910–15

Words nearby run-on sentence

Cultural definitions for run-on sentence

run-on sentence

A grammatically faulty sentence in which two or more main or independent clauses are joined without a word to connect them or a punctuation mark to separate them: “The fog was thick he could not find his way home.” The error can be corrected by adding a conjunction with a comma (“The fog was thick, and he could not find his way home”) or by separating the two clauses with a semicolon (“The fog was thick; he could not find his way home”).