At Is a Comma Splice?

A comma splice occurs when you use a comma to join two complete sentences without placing an appropriate joining word between them. The comma just isn't strong enough to do the job of making one grammatical sentence out of two. Learn to recognize what comma splices look like, and be sure to avoid them in your essays.

How do you know if its a comma splice?

How can you tell that's a comma splice? Look at the group of words before the comma. Did you notice that this group of words can stand by itself as a complete sentence? That means it's an independent clause.

Which is an example of a comma splice?

A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined with just a comma. Example of a comma splice: Participants could leave the study at any time, they needed to indicate their preference. Sentence 1: Participants could leave the study at any time. Sentence 2: They needed to indicate their preference.