The Most Accurate AI Content Detector
Try Our AI Detector
Grammar

What are Run-On Sentences?

Learn about what run-on sentences are and how to correct a run-on sentence to improve the flow and readability of your writing.

Trusted By Industry Leaders
Trusted By Industry Leaders

Introduction

Our text compare tool is a fantastic, lightweight tool that provides plagiarism checks between two documents. Whether you are a student, blogger or publisher, this tool offers a great solution to detect and compare similarities between any two pieces of text. In this article, I will discuss the different ways to use the tool, the primary features of the tool and who this tool is for. There is an FAQ at the bottom if you run into any issues when trying to use the tool.

What makes Originality.ai’s text comparison tool stand out?

Keyword density helper – This tool comes with a built-in keyword density helper in some ways similar to the likes of SurferSEO or MarketMuse the difference being, ours is free! This feature shows the user the frequency of single or two word keywords in a document, meaning you can easily compare an article you have written against a competitor to see the major differences in keyword densities. This is especially useful for SEO’s who are looking to optimize their blog content for search engines and improve the blog’s visibility.

Ways to compare

File compare – Text comparison between files is a breeze with our tool. Simply select the files you would like to compare, hit “Upload” and our tool will automatically insert the content into the text area, then simply hit “Compare” and let our tool show you where the differences in the text are. By uploading a file, you can still check the keyword density in your content.

URL compare

Comparing text between URLs is effortless with our tool. Simply paste the URL you would like to get the content from (in our example we use a fantastic blog post by Sherice Jacob found here) hit “Submit URL” and our tool will automatically retrieve the contents of the page and paste it into the text area, then simply click “Compare” and let our tool highlight the difference between the URLs. This feature is especially useful for checking keyword density between pages!

Simple text compare

You can also easily compare text by copying and pasting it into each field, as demonstrated below.

Features of Originality.ai’s Text Compare Tool

Ease of use

Our text compare tool is created with the user in mind, it is designed to be accessible to everyone. Our tool allows users to upload files or enter a URL to extract text, this along with the lightweight design ensures a seamless experience. The interface is simple and straightforward, making it easy for users to compare text and detect the diff.

Multiple text file format support

Our tool provides support for a variety of different text files and microsoft word formats including pdf file, .docx, .odt, .doc, and .txt, giving users the ability to compare text from different sources with ease. This makes it a great solution for students, bloggers, and publishers who are looking for file comparison in different formats.

Protects intellectual property

Our text comparison tool helps you protect your intellectual property and helps prevent plagiarism. This tool provides an accurate comparison of texts, making it easy to ensure that your work is original and not copied from other sources. Our tool is a valuable resource for anyone looking to maintain the originality of their content.

User Data Privacy

Our text compare tool is secure and protects user data privacy. No data is ever saved to the tool, the users’ text is only scanned and pasted into the tool’s text area. This makes certain that users can use our tool with confidence, knowing their data is safe and secure.

Compatibility

Our text comparison tool is designed to work seamlessly across all size devices, ensuring maximum compatibility no matter your screen size. Whether you are using a large desktop monitor, a small laptop, a tablet or a smartphone, this tool adjusts to your screen size. This means that users can compare texts and detect the diff anywhere without the need for specialized hardware or software. This level of accessibility makes it an ideal solution for students or bloggers who value the originality of their work and need to compare text online anywhere at any time.

It’s best practice to avoid run-on sentences. Run-on sentences are not only unnecessarily long and wordy sentences that can confuse the reader, but they are also grammatically incorrect.

Let’s take a closer look at what run-on sentences are, how to identify a run-on sentence, and review ways that you can correct run-on sentences in your writing.

Then, to make sure you catch any grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors in your copy, use the Originality.ai AI Grammar Checker

A Quick Review of Independent Clauses

Before we take a further look at how to identify a run-on sentence, let’s do a quick review of independent clauses for context.

  • Independent clauses have: a subject (typically includes a noun and modifier) and a predicate (explains what the subject is or does and includes a verb).
  • They contain a complete idea or thought. 

It can be as simple as two words with a subject and a verb. However, it may be more complex with multiple clauses joined with conjunctions and punctuation. 

Examples

  • Independent clause: I do homework at the cafe.
    • I (subject) + do homework at the cafe (predicate).
  • Independent clause: A cat sleeps in the sunny window seat.
    •  A cat (subject) + sleeps in the sunny window seat (predicate).

An independent clause does not depend on another sentence to finish the thought

What are Run-On Sentences? How to Identify Them

Generally, a run-on sentence happens in cases where two or more independent clauses in a sentence are joined together incorrectly. However, that’s not the only scenario when run-on sentences occur.

There are a few causes of run-on sentences:

  1. Two independent clauses are held together in one sentence without any punctuation or coordinating conjunctions. 
  2. A run-on sentence can also happen with a comma splice. Comma splices happen if two independent clauses are connected and a coordinating conjunction is not added.
  3. There are multiple subjects and not every subject has its own predicate.
  4. If dependent and independent clauses aren’t written correctly they can also cause run-on sentences.
  5. Incorrect use of a transitional phrase.

1. Run-on sentences caused by two independent clauses in one sentence

In writing if you want to add context for the reader, and if these details include their own subject and predicate, we cannot add them to another independent clause without the necessary punctuation or coordinating conjunctions (for example: and, or, but). 

Example:

  • Incorrect: I do homework at the cafe a cat sleeps in the sunny window seat. 
  • Correct: I do homework at the cafe and a cat sleeps in the sunny window seat. 

2. Run-on sentences caused by a comma splice

A single comma cannot be used to join two independent clauses. A comma splice is created if there isn’t a conjunction used to join the two sentences. 

Example:

  • Incorrect: I do homework at the cafe, a cat sleeps in the sunny window seat. 
  • Correct: I do homework at the cafe, while a cat sleeps in the sunny window seat. 

3. Run-on sentences caused by multiple subjects (without their own predicate)

Run-on sentences can be identified by checking how many subjects exist in your sentence. 

Do you have multiple subjects in a sentence? Check that each subject has a predicate

  • Correct: Sarah and I go to the movies. (1 subject and 1 predicate)
  • Correct: The dog fights with the cat, the cat ate the dog’s food. (2 subjects and 2 predicates)

Note: The sentence “Sarah and I go to the movies.” has one subject and one predicate. In this instance “Sarah and I” are one subject and could also be replaced with “we.”

4. Watch for dependent vs. independent clauses

Once you have determined there is more than one subject and predicate (two clauses), it is time to figure out if the clauses are independent or dependent. 

Remember, an independent clause includes a subject and predicate and expresses a complete thought. 

In contrast, while a dependent clause has a subject and a verb, it is not a complete concept, thought, or idea. 

Example: 

  • Independent Clause: Summer comes to an end.
  • Dependent Clause: After summer comes to an end.

In the dependent clause, a dependent word marker, ‘after,’ is used (other common dependent words include: ‘although,’ ‘as,’ ‘because,’ and ‘if’). 

This dependent word marker makes the sentence incomplete, as the reader is left wondering what happens after summer ends. If the dependent clause was left as is, it would become a sentence fragment.

A dependent and independent clause can be joined together with only a comma, but two independent clauses cannot. 

If your sentence includes two complete thoughts, i.e. two subjects and two predicates, without a dependent word marker, then you have a run-on sentence

Example:

  • Run-on sentence: Ellen thanked her manager he didn’t hear her.
  • Run-on sentence: I do homework at the cafe I order a coffee.

5. Without proper punctuation transitional phrases cause run-on sentences

Other common run-on sentences are formed when a transitional phrase, such as ‘therefore,’ ‘in other words,’ and ‘although,’ is used without proper punctuation. 

A transitional phrase cannot join two sentences like a coordinating conjunction, and mistakes involving transitional phrases often result in comma splices.

Example:

  • Run-on sentence: I do homework at the cafe, therefore I order a coffee.
  • Run-on sentence: Summer comes to an end, in other words it is time for pumpkin spice coffee.

Once you have identified your run-on sentence, you can choose a method to correct it.

How to Correct a Run-On Sentence

After finding a run-on sentence, it’s time to fix it. You can decide how you’d like to reword the phrase with proper grammar. 

Divide the clauses with periods

The easiest way to join two clauses is to split them into separate sentences using a period

Example:

  • I do homework at the cafe. A cat sleeps in a sunny window seat.
  • Summer comes to an end. It’s time for pumpkin spice coffee.

Join clauses with coordinating conjunctions

Sometimes splitting the sentences can lead to a choppy-sounding paragraph. 

If you want to create a smoother flow between sentences or show a close relationship between them, there are other ways to connect a run-on sentence correctly. One way is through a coordinating conjunction such as ‘and,’ ‘so,’ ‘but,’ or ‘for.’

A coordinating conjunction works like a plus symbol (+) in mathematics, tying the two clauses together.

Example:

  • Ellen thanked her manager, but he didn’t hear her. 
  • It looked like it was going to rain so Ellen brought an umbrella.

Join clauses with subordinating conjunctions

In the above example, ‘but’ acts as a coordinating conjunction between the two clauses, showing the relationship between the two sentences. 

If a conjunction does not tie the sentences together the way you’d like, you can use a subordinating conjunction (such as ‘after,’ ‘as,’ ‘because,’ or ‘while’). This will help to turn an independent clause into a dependent one. 

Then you can correctly connect the dependent and an independent clause with a comma.

Example:

  • While I do my homework at the cafe, a cat sleeps in the sunny window seat.
  • When summer comes to an end, it’s time for pumpkin spice.

Joining Clauses with Semicolons

Two independent clauses that are closely linked can be joined with a semicolon. 

The semicolon separates the independent clauses while joining them in one sentence. 

If a run-on sentence uses a transitional expression and lacks the correct punctuation, you can fix it with a semicolon before the transitional expression and a comma after it.

Example:

  • Ellen thanked her manager; he didn’t hear her.
  • Summer comes to an end; therefore, it’s time for pumpkin spice coffee.

See some more examples below:

  • Run-on: Elephants are very intelligent animals I went to see them at the zoo.
  • Correction: Elephants are very intelligent animals. I went to see them at the zoo.
  • Run-on: The man watches his grandsons, he can’t believe how much they’ve grown.
  • Correction: The man watches his grandsons; he can’t believe how much they’ve grown.
  • Run-on: Frances drives slowly she is always late.
  • Correction: Frances drives slowly so she is always late.
  • Run-on: I wanted to go to the beach, however the forecast predicted rain.
  • Correction: I wanted to go to the beach; however, the forecast predicted rain.

Final Thoughts

Amending run-on sentences in your writing improves the clarity and readability of your content so that it is grammatically correct.

Not sure if you caught all of the run-on sentences in your copy? Check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors with the Originality.ai AI Grammar Checker.

Then, get more grammar tips in our top grammar resources:

Alyssa English

Alyssa English is a writer focused on B2C content for writers and teachers. As a certified ESL instructor, Alyssa is passionate about language and communication. She’s familiar with the grammatical conventions of and distinctions between Canadian, American, and British English.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to fill out the entire form?

No, that’s one of the benefits, only fill out the areas which you think will be relevant to the prompts you require.

Why is the English so poor for some prompts?

When making the tool we had to make each prompt as general as possible to be able to include every kind of input. Not to worry though ChatGPT is smart and will still understand the prompt.

In The Press

Originality.ai has been featured for its accurate ability to detect GPT-3, Chat GPT and GPT-4 generated content. See some of the coverage below…

View All Press
Featured by Leading Publications

Originality.ai did a fantastic job on all three prompts, precisely detecting them as AI-written. Additionally, after I checked with actual human-written textual content, it did determine it as 100% human-generated, which is important.

Vahan Petrosyan

searchenginejournal.com

I use this tool most frequently to check for AI content personally. My most frequent use-case is checking content submitted by freelance writers we work with for AI and plagiarism.

Tom Demers

searchengineland.com

After extensive research and testing, we determined Originality.ai to be the most accurate technology.

Rock Content Team

rockcontent.com

Jon Gillham, Founder of Originality.ai came up with a tool to detect whether the content is written by humans or AI tools. It’s built on such technology that can specifically detect content by ChatGPT-3 — by giving you a spam score of 0-100, with an accuracy of 94%.

Felix Rose-Collins

ranktracker.com

ChatGPT lacks empathy and originality. It’s also recognized as AI-generated content most of the time by plagiarism and AI detectors like Originality.ai

Ashley Stahl

forbes.com

Originality.ai Do give them a shot! 

Sri Krishna

venturebeat.com

For web publishers, Originality.ai will enable you to scan your content seamlessly, see who has checked it previously, and detect if an AI-powered tool was implored.

Industry Trends

analyticsinsight.net

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it important to check for plagiarism?

Tools for conducting a plagiarism check between two documents online are important as it helps to ensure the originality and authenticity of written work. Plagiarism undermines the value of professional and educational institutions, as well as the integrity of the authors who write articles. By checking for plagiarism, you can ensure the work that you produce is original or properly attributed to the original author. This helps prevent the distribution of copied and misrepresented information.

What is Text Comparison?

Text comparison is the process of taking two or more pieces of text and comparing them to see if there are any similarities, differences and/or plagiarism. The objective of a text comparison is to see if one of the texts has been copied or paraphrased from another text. This text compare tool for plagiarism check between two documents has been built to help you streamline that process by finding the discrepancies with ease.

How do Text Comparison Tools Work?

Text comparison tools work by analyzing and comparing the contents of two or more text documents to find similarities and differences between them. This is typically done by breaking the texts down into smaller units such as sentences or phrases, and then calculating a similarity score based on the number of identical or nearly identical units. The comparison may be based on the exact wording of the text, or it may take into account synonyms and other variations in language. The results of the comparison are usually presented in the form of a report or visual representation, highlighting the similarities and differences between the texts.

String comparison is a fundamental operation in text comparison tools that involves comparing two sequences of characters to determine if they are identical or not. This comparison can be done at the character level or at a higher level, such as the word or sentence level.

The most basic form of string comparison is the equality test, where the two strings are compared character by character and a Boolean result indicating whether they are equal or not is returned. More sophisticated string comparison algorithms use heuristics and statistical models to determine the similarity between two strings, even if they are not exactly the same. These algorithms often use techniques such as edit distance, which measures the minimum number of operations (such as insertions, deletions, and substitutions) required to transform one string into another.

Another common technique for string comparison is n-gram analysis, where the strings are divided into overlapping sequences of characters (n-grams) and the frequency of each n-gram is compared between the two strings. This allows for a more nuanced comparison that takes into account partial similarities, rather than just exact matches.

String comparison is a crucial component of text comparison tools, as it forms the basis for determining the similarities and differences between texts. The results of the string comparison can then be used to generate a report or visual representation of the similarities and differences between the texts.

What is Syntax Highlighting?

Syntax highlighting is a feature of text editors and integrated development environments (IDEs) that helps to visually distinguish different elements of a code or markup language. It does this by coloring different elements of the code, such as keywords, variables, functions, and operators, based on a predefined set of rules.

The purpose of syntax highlighting is to make the code easier to read and understand, by drawing attention to the different elements and their structure. For example, keywords may be colored in a different hue to emphasize their importance, while comments or strings may be colored differently to distinguish them from the code itself. This helps to make the code more readable, reducing the cognitive load of the reader and making it easier to identify potential syntax errors.

How Can I Conduct a Plagiarism Check between Two Documents Online?

With our tool it’s easy, just enter or upload some text, click on the button “Compare text” and the tool will automatically display the diff between the two texts.

What Are the Benefits of Using a Text Compare Tool?

Using text comparison tools is much easier, more efficient, and more reliable than proofreading a piece of text by hand. Eliminate the risk of human error by using a tool to detect and display the text difference within seconds.

What Files Can You Inspect with This Text Compare Tool?

We have support for the file extensions .pdf, .docx, .odt, .doc and .txt. You can also enter your text or copy and paste text to compare.

Will My Data Be Shared?

There is never any data saved by the tool, when you hit “Upload” we are just scanning the text and pasting it into our text area so with our text compare tool, no data ever enters our servers.

Software License Agreement

Copyright © 2023, Originality.ai

All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

  1. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Will My Data Be Shared?

This table below shows a heat map of features on other sites compared to ours as you can see we almost have greens across the board!

More From The Blog

Al Content Detector & Plagiarism Checker for Marketers and Writers

Use our leading tools to ensure you can hit publish with integrity!