Don't you hate it when teachers say, "this is a run-on sentence" or "you write how you talk; it's too wordy"? Or maybe you have the opposite problem, and sentence can't stand on its own as it needs something more. It can get annoying after a while. Trust me, I know. As a person who has written a lot of stories, papers, letters, and so many other things that is in dire need of correct grammar, I'm constantly reminded about my run-on sentences.

Please note, long sentences aren't bad. They can be good. There's just a limit on how much you can put into a complete sentence without it being too wordy, too confusing, or just plain incorrect.

But, before we can get to how that works, we must understand the basics of an independent and dependent clause. This article may sound boring at first, but trust me, by the time you're done reading this, you'll hopefully gain the knowledge to overcome those awkward sentences. The less awkward sentences that are in a story, the more likely you're able to keep a reader reading your story.

What is a Dependent and Independent Clause?

Dependent clauses are phrases that can't stand by themselves. They are missing one or two components of what makes up an independent clause. Independent clauses are made up of three parts: a noun, a verb, and a complete thought.

Wait...a complete thought? What's that?

A complete thought is something you can imagine without parts of it being left out. For example, you can imagine a girl walking a dog. The girl walked a dog. That is a complete sentence. As the girl walked the dog. That's not complete sentence. It depends on another part of a sentence in order for it to stand alone. As the girl walked the dog, it started to rain. The latter part of that is an independent clause. There's nothing that feels like it's missing.

Combining independent and dependent clauses makes up different sentence structures. Every sentence created in a story is filled with dependent and independent clauses. Sometimes a dependent clause stands by itself. It's something that can happen in stories to help prove a point.

What? How is that possible? Well, I'll get to that in a moment as you need to learn how the rules of sentence structures work before you can actually break them. So, lets get started on how to create complete sentences by understanding independent and dependent clauses and a bit about punctuation.

How to Combine Independent and Dependent Clauses?

Usually, when people create a run-on sentence or a sentence that can't stand on it's own, they are just missing a few punctuation marks. In order to use those punctuation marks, it's best to understand the four sentence types: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex.

Simple.

Simple is the easiest. They are short. They contain an independent clause. There is nothing else to it. Every sentence in this paragraph is a simple sentence. Sometimes they are easy to spot. Sometimes they are hard to spot. It's easy to follow. Too many simple sentences can make a paragraph choppy.

I can't do this without using more than just a simple sentence, sorry. The gist of the story is this; a simple sentence contains a complete thought, a noun, and a verb. They only use them once, so it's easier to follow.

Compound.

That last sentence was a compound sentence. It uses two independent clauses together by combining them together by some sort of conjunction. There are lots of ways to create a compound sentence; however, there are many rules to it. I will get to that later. Just note that a compound sentence combines two independent clauses, but there's a reason this can happen. It needs help by a special punctuation, or a special word and a certain punctuation mark.

Complex.

Sometimes, as writers, you want to combine a dependent clause in there. By adding a dependent clause to an independent clause, you can create a complex sentence. This is how a dependent clause can become more acceptable in writing. Ways to tell if a sentence is dependent is by one of the following words: when, since, because, before. There are a lot more than that, and I'll give a link to a list below.

When writing a dependent clause, there are times you need to use commas and don't. Word documents doesn't do a good job on telling when to use a comma. Don't trust it. If a dependent clause is in the beginning of a sentence, a comma is used after the dependent clause. See? It's tagging along in the beginning, but there needs to be a sign of some sort to say, "Hey! I'm a dependent clause, but since I'm at the beginning of a sentence, I need a comma." If it's afterwards, then it doesn't need a comma. For example: I like the color pink because it's a happy color. Notice how "because it's a happy color" can't stand alone because we don't have the full context of the sentence. It doesn't need a comma because there is no independent clause after it.

Compound Complex.

Now, onto the longest one of them all: compound-complex sentences. Like the name suggests, this kind of sentence structure contains two independent clauses and one dependent clause. While Kyle likes to play soccer, his sister likes to play softball, but his younger brother likes soccer and baseball. Yes, that sentence is pretty choppy, but they are usually lengthy and can be hard to pull together. Again, if you follow the rules of what makes a compound sentence and one that makes a complex sentence, a compound complex sentence should be a breeze.

Compound Sentence Helpers.

Like I mentioned in what a compound sentence is, there are many different kinds of punctuations that can be used to connect the two independent clauses. There is just one thing to note. Depending on the type of punctuation that is used can determine what kind of word should follow, or not follow depending on how fancy you want to get.

Let's start with the most common punctuation mark that is used when combining independent clauses: a comma. A comma is great because it be used to combine a dependent clause with an independent clause, but it can also combine two independent clauses. There's a difference though. The most common mistake I see in many stories is that writers will combine two independent clauses with a simple comma. That's a big no-no. A comma is only powerful by itself if it's going to combine an independent clause with a dependent one. Never, and I repeat, NEVER should it be used alone to combine two independent clauses.

So, how should you use a comma to combine two independent clauses? Simple. It's with a coordinating conjunction. Examples of these are the following: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. Seems like a lot to remember, but just remember the acronym, FANBOYS, and the words that go with them, and you'll know if the word is a coordinating conjunction that can be used with a comma to connect two independent clauses.

Just know that you can't combine two independent clauses with a simple comma and that's it. Not only is it incorrect, but it's a pet peeve of mine in grammar.

Maybe you're too advance for a simple comma with a coordinating conjunction to combine two independent clauses. That's cool. Congratulations. There's a semi colon you can use with a conjunctive adverb if you want to get that fancy; thus, it can further you in your writings and make you sound really sophisticated.

What's a conjunction adverb? Well, there are a ton of them, and while my middle school English teacher forced my class to memorize all of them back then, I don't have them all memorized. Some well known ones are as followed: however, furthermore, thus, nevertheless, meanwhile, therefore. There are many more than just that, but as you can tell from the list, they could really work well with a character or a tone of voice that is much more mature, classy, sophisticated, etc. etc.

Funny how sentence structures can help with that? Crazy English knowledge!

Also--and this is very important to know--a conjunction adverb should always be followed by a comma. An example of this would be as followed. Mr. Stone wanted to spend time with his family; however, work was becoming much more demanded that he needed to stay. Notice how however has a semicolon before it and is followed by a comma. This is how it should go if you're going to have a conjunction adverb following the semicolon.

Sometimes, you just don't want to use either. A semicolon—unlike a comma—can be used by itself. There's a catch though. If you're going to combine two independent clauses with a semicolon and that's it, the two independent clauses must be very, very similar. Sophia likes John; John likes Alice, Sophia's older sister. Notice how that sentence could stand by itself, but yet, it's held together by a semicolon to create a bit more drama. True, it could've worked just as well alone, but know that it's an option.

Other punctuation marks that can help make your sentence structures stand out is surrounding a off-thought with commas or dashes. For instance: Deku, a very well-known student at U.A., has a Quirk called One-For-All. The phrase between the commas isn't an independent clause, but it's not really a dependent one either. It's just a phrase, one that tells a little bit about Deku. It could also be done with dashes surrounding it. Again, this is just fancy punctation you can think about when writing, but it should only be used if it is use right.

Breaking the Rules.

Now that you've learned all about sentence structures and how to use them, you're going to realize that some authors have some sentences that seem to be a run-on. For example, in Lemony Snicket's book Series of Unfortunate Events (which book from the series, I'm not quite sure), there is a chapter that has the first couple of pages filled with the same word. Seems like a run-on, doesn't it? Other times, writers will write a phrase and leave it like that. An example of this would be in Swanna Girl and Braviary Man 2: Fight Against Oblivion, where one paragraph has just one word: Rudi.

If you think these are grammatically incorrect, you'd be right, but also wrong. See, sometimes writers will purposefully create sentences like this to prove a point. If a person can't seem to think or is getting scatterbrained, incomplete sentences or simple sentences can help show that. Other times, you might have a teacher in a story that seems to be going on forever about a certain topic or someone who is thinking too hard on something that gives others a headache. In that case, a run-on sentence could work. This is called stylizing, but it should still be used sparingly as filling a chapter with run-ons and/or incomplete sentences can be hard to follow. Only use this technique if it's going to help prove a point, or highlight something in your book. While this could be a useful tool, it can also turn off readers.

In all, grammar is a hard thing to learn. There are many rules that go into something as simple as sentence structures, and what makes a complete or incomplete sentence. As long as you keep trying to improve on those, your writing will improve tremendously.