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Despite their sound, the terms "splicing"and "fusing" do not describe torture techniques used by English teachers on unwary students! Grammarians use the term fused sentence to describe two sentences that are run together without an appropriate mark of punctuation. A sentence with a comma splice refers to two sentences incorrectly joined (or spliced together) with a comma.
Here are some examples:
Comma splice: Dante has a close call with Medusa, Dante then beholds the sufferings of the heretics.
Fused sentence: Dante has a close call with Medusa Dante then beholds the sufferings of the heretics.
These errors can be corrected in several different ways.
Two sentences:
Dante has a close call with Medusa. Dante then beholds the sufferings of heretics.
Sentence with a coordinating conjunction and comma:
Dante has a close call with Medusa, and then he beholds the sufferings of heretics.
Sentence with an introductory subordinate clause:
After he endures a close call with Medusa, Dante beholds the suffering of the heretics.
Sentence with a semicolon:
Dante has a close call with Medusa; he then beholds the suffering of the heretics.
Be careful! Don't splice or fuse!
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