Illustration for The Comma Splice, and the Writers Who Use It on Purpose

The Comma Splice, and the Writers Who Use It on Purpose

ByNathan Cole

The plan was sound, it failed anyway.

Two complete sentences joined by a comma. That is a comma splice, and it is the error editors mark most often.

Why a comma cannot do it

A comma separates parts within a sentence. It has no authority to join two sentences, because that is a bigger job than the mark is built for.

The test: cover the comma. If both sides could stand alone with a full stop, the comma is not enough.

The four fixes

Each says something slightly different, which is why the choice matters:

  • Full stop. The plan was sound. It failed anyway. Two separate thoughts. Most emphatic.
  • Semicolon. The plan was sound; it failed anyway. Closely linked. See our guide to the semicolon.
  • Conjunction. The plan was sound, but it failed anyway. States the relationship explicitly.
  • Subordinate one clause. Although the plan was sound, it failed anyway. Makes one clause serve the other.

The fourth is usually the strongest and the least used. A splice often signals that two ideas are related in a way the writer has not yet worked out; subordinating forces the decision.

The words that cause most of them

However, therefore, moreover, nevertheless, consequently, otherwise, thus, instead.

These look like conjunctions and are not — they are conjunctive adverbs, and they cannot join clauses:

  • Wrong: It rained, however we went anyway.
  • Right: It rained; however, we went anyway.

The real conjunctions that can join clauses with a comma are short and worth memorising: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

When it is deliberate

Here is what makes this more interesting than a simple error. Accomplished writers splice on purpose, and it does something no correct punctuation can.

I came, I saw, I conquered. Three clauses, two splices. A famous sentence.

The effect is speed. Full stops would slow it: I came. I saw. I conquered. That is heavier, more deliberate. Semicolons would make it formal. The commas keep the three clauses rushing into each other, which is the entire point.

The deliberate splice works under narrow conditions: short clauses, parallel structure, and a clear rhetorical purpose. She laughed, she cried, she left. works. The quarterly figures were released on Tuesday, the board met to discuss them on Thursday. does not — it is just an error.

The honest position

A deliberate splice and an accidental one look identical on the page. The reader cannot see your intention — only the mark.

Which means the device only reads as deliberate if the rest of your punctuation is visibly under control. In writing that already contains errors, a splice is just another one. In clean prose, a splice reads as a choice.

So: fix them by default, and keep the exception for short parallel clauses where speed is the effect you want.

Checked against Merriam-Webster, the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Spotted an error? Tell us — see our editorial policy.

Nathan Cole writes the adjective guides and word lists on Grammar Simplified. Every guide he publishes is checked against Merriam-Webster for spelling and usage, the Chicago Manual of Style for punctuation, and the AP Stylebook where a convention is specific to web writing. Where a rule is genuinely disputed among those authorities, he says so in the guide rather than picking a side quietly. Corrections are welcome and get acted on — see the editorial policy.

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