Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach

You may be tired of comma talk, but I want to toss one more punctuation post out to you before I move on to other topics. This one’s about the comma splice. To fix a comma splice, you first have to know what it is. A comma splice occurs when you connect or “splice” together two independent clauses with a comma. As a reminder, an independent clause can stand on its own as a sentence, with a subject and verb. For example: The writing conference invited my favorite author. That’s an independent clause. She spoke for an hour about her muse. That’s an independent clause, too. A comma splice would occur when you connect those two independent clauses with a comma so it would look like this: The writing conference invited my favorite author, she spoke for an hour about her muse. This must be fixed, or your editor might pluck her hair out in small handfuls each time she encounters one. Save her this painful experience by fixing the comma splice yourself. Five Easy Ways to Fix a Comma S