Comma Splices and How to Avoid Them

Like a botched Apparition spell, a comma splice happens when a comma is unequal to the task of carrying you from one clause to another.

Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed. He could hardly help it given his physiognomy.

• Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed, he could hardly help it given his physiognomy. X

A comma is not strong enough to join what would otherwise be two complete sentences.

• Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed. He could hardly help it given his physiognomy. ✓

A period is often the cleanest fix for a comma splice. There is nothing wrong with short sentences. However, if you want to convey a tighter relationship between your clauses—cause and effect, for example—you can use a coordinating conjunction, dash, colon, or semicolon instead.

• Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed, but he could hardly help it given his physiognomy.
• Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed—he could hardly help it given his physiognomy.
• Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed; he could hardly help it given his physiognomy.
• Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed: he could hardly help it given his physiognomy.

Demons have bad days like the rest of us, and sometimes they need a hug.

Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions are the joining words and, or, but, so, yet, for, and nor. Using them makes the relationship between your clauses explicit, which is no bad thing.

• Demons have bad days like the rest of us, sometimes they need a hug. X
• Demons have bad days like the rest of us, and sometimes they need a hug. ✓

See Commas and Conjunctions for more.

Dashes

Dashes have a lot of uses, but in this case their interruption suggests an aside or a punchline, like an elbow to the ribs.

• Euphemia was a canny card sharp, even Death couldn’t beat her. X
• Euphemia was a canny card sharp—even Death couldn’t beat her. ✓

See How to Use Dashes for more.

Colons and Semicolons

Colons introduce, while semicolons join. Use a colon when the second clause explains or expands on the first. Otherwise, use a semicolon.

• Giacomo’s true nature was obvious in hindsight, he’d always avoided garlic, churches, and sunlight. X
• Giacomo’s true nature was obvious in hindsight: he’d always avoided garlic, churches, and sunlight. ✓ 
• It couldn’t have been easy, no wonder there were so few vampires in Italy. X
• It couldn’t have been easy; no wonder there were so few vampires in Italy. ✓

See Colon vs. Semicolon for more.

Euphemia was a canny card sharp—even Death couldn’t beat her.

All that said, if your clauses are very short, and if their structures match, you can get away with only a comma between them.

• I came, I saw, I conquered.
• Mum was in the orchestra, Dad in the ballet corps.
• She played, he danced.

What you don’t want to do is make your sentences flimsy paperclip chains of clauses hooked together by commas. Clarify your thoughts, then use the appropriate punctuation.

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Quotation Marks, Part Two

[Part One]

Quotations marks are not, as some people seem to think, a good way to sexy up your signage with bizarre offers of “free” merchandise (meaning you have to pay?) or “special” deals (sounds suspicious). 

Though a member of the “weaker” sex, Claudette routinely thrashed bullies before breakfast.

Sneer Quotes

Putting quotation marks around a word is another way of saying “just kidding!” These so-called sneer quotes give a word an ironic or sarcastic spin. 

• Though a member of the “weaker” sex, Claudette routinely thrashed bullies before breakfast.
• Mikhail “borrowed” her Snuggie six months ago and has no intention of giving it back.

But don’t use quotation marks after the word so-called; that would be overkill.

Unfamiliar Words 

The first time you use a word or expression that might be unfamiliar to your readers, you may want to put it in quotation marks. It could be a technical term, a bit of obscure jargon, or a slang expression that’s out of keeping with the tone of your piece. You can skip the quotation marks for subsequent uses of the word. 

• For the Caesar salad dressing, you will need to “coddle” an egg.
• It is safe to say that Mr. Buckley was not “woke.”

Use this device sparingly, or you risk distracting your readers with too much punctuation. And don’t use it with widely familiar words, because that’s just annoying. 

• X   I’m “hip” to the kids and their “funky” slang!

Words as Words

If you want to talk about a word itself rather than its meaning (for example, “Do you spell ‘color’ with a u?”), quotation marks are a good way to clarify your intention and avoid confusion. Or you can do as I do and use italics instead; both are correct.

• Ming’s eight-year-old nephew confuses “cinnamon” with “synonym.”
• He won the spelling bee with syphilis.

Definitions and Translations 

You can put the meaning, or gloss, of a word in either quotation marks or parentheses. The same goes for English translations of foreign words.

• Blandishments is a word used here to mean “tight jeans and come-hither glances.”
• After achieving satori (sudden enlightenment), the monk dedicated himself to practical jokes.

After achieving satori (sudden enlightenment), the monk dedicated himself to practical jokes.

Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation

While commas may go before dialogue, they don’t belong in front of words or phrases that are closely integrated into the rest of the sentence. 

• Armin never would have told her to “keep the home fires burning” if he’d known her history of pyromania.
• He told her, “Playing with matches is all very well, but a good insurance policy will keep you warm at night.”

Though the British would disagree, Americans and most Canadians put periods and commas inside closing quotation marks. However, exclamation points, question marks, colons, semicolons, and dashes only go inside quotation marks if they’re part of the element—whether dialogue, title, or expression—being enclosed.

• Sulamith titled her essay on climate change “We’re All Doomed! Doomed!” 
• How could you forget the words to “Kumbayah”? 
• Coach’s pep talk included an inspiring line from Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”: “Scaramouche! Scaramouche! Will you do the fandango?” 
• For the next class, read “From Weapon to Toy: A Concise History of the Yo-yo,” published in Modern Collector; the pamphlet “Walking the Dog and Other Tricks”; and “Yo Yo Ma: American Cellist.” 
• With typical ebullience, Emily Dickinson wrote “Because I could not stop for Death— / He kindly stopped for me—” 
• “Lice have certainly”—Mr. Jenkins paused and scratched his head—“never been a problem at this school.”

With typical ebullience, Emily Dickinson wrote “Because I could not stop for Death— / He kindly stopped for me—”

When Not to Use Quotation Marks

As covered above and in Part One, you don’t need quotation marks for epigraphs (quotations at the beginning of a work or chapter), after so-called, or for widely known terms and expressions.

You also don’t need quotation marks for proverbs, titles at the head of a document, or the words yes and no—unless they’re presented as dialogue.

• The guillotiners gruesomely embraced the adage that practice makes perfect.
• How could anyone say no to that scaly little face?
• Smiling widely, Puck replied, “Yes.”

Next time: The mysterious persistence of single quotation marks

Colon vs. Semicolon: Punctuation Smackdown

When a comma is too wimpy and a period is too severe, you need a colon or a semicolon—but which?

Jeeves the Colon

A colon is like a butler: it introduces things. It holds open the door and says, “Mrs. Herringbone to see you, ma’am.” The sight of a colon raises expectations for what is to follow.

• A spelunker must possess the following: a miner’s helmet, a sturdy rope, waterproof boots, and nerves of steel.
• Only one creature in these woods burbles like that: the Jabberwock.
• “Your plan failed, Count Svitavsky, because you forgot one thing: Fifi is allergic to jujubes.”

A spelunker must possess the following: a miner’s helmet, a sturdy rope, waterproof boots, and nerves of steel.

A colon can introduce a list, an example, an explanation, or a conclusion, but remember this: what comes before the colon must be able to stand on its own as a sentence.

• X Their date consisted of: hot dogs, a walk on the beach, and some light larceny.
• ✓ Their date consisted of hot dogs, a walk on the beach, and some light larceny.

• X Over the course of the evening they stole: hip waders, hubcaps, and hairnets.
• ✓ Over the course of the evening they stole hip waders, hubcaps, and hairnets.
• ✓ They stole only items beginning with an h: hip waders, hubcaps, and hairnets.

Semicolons Are for Lovers

When you have two sentences so intimately related they beg not to be apart, join them with a semicolon. But be sure the clauses on both sides of the semicolon are independent—that is, able to stand on their own.

• It was spring; they were in love.
• Jonas chose the toasting fork as his weapon; Tariq selected the spatula.

Jonas chose the toasting fork as his weapon; Tariq selected the spatula.

Don’t make the all-too-common mistake of using a comma where you should use a semicolon. Commas work with coordinating conjunctions like and or but (see Commas and Conjunctions); without a conjunction, you get a painful comma splice.

• X It was spring, they were in love.
• ✓ It was spring and they were in love.

• X Jonas chose the toasting fork as his weapon, Tariq selected the spatula.
• ✓ Jonas chose the toasting fork as his weapon, but Tariq selected the spatula.

Semicolons as Supercommas

Semicolons are sometimes used instead of commas in long, complicated sentences holding multiple clauses, especially when those clauses are themselves already stuffed with commas. In those cases, the semicolons are like extra-emphatic commas.

• Outside the agent’s door stood an astronaut, sweating under his helmet; a ballerina, patting her bun and fluffing her tutu; a nun, her wimple in danger of poking someone’s eye out; and a sasquatch, whose oversized footprints could be seen up and down the hall.
• You could scale the wall with your grappling hook and creep through the mansion on silent feet, unnoticed by the sleeping baron, until you found the hidden room and, using your hard-won skills, opened its lock with your little picks; but you still wouldn’t have a clue how to get inside the safe.

Semicolons with However and That Is

A semicolon is often used before that is (or i.e.), for example (or e.g.), however, therefore, indeed, or similar expressions.

• You’ve eaten the last olive; however, I won’t hold it against you.
• I’m always a considerate neighbour; for example, I never practise the tuba after midnight.
• His new fairy wings were a great success; that is, they worked brilliantly until he hit the ground.

Again, notice that the clauses on both sides of the semicolons could work as separate sentences if they wanted to. Otherwise, the semicolons wouldn’t belong there.

• Mitzi swore she’d become an evil enchantress however long it took.
• Your grandmother is indeed running naked through the park.
• Your grandmother is naked; indeed, she is running through the park.

Mitzi swore she’d become an evil enchantress however long it took.

Match Decision

Sometimes the colon-or-semicolon question can be tough to answer. Does the second clause illuminate the first, or are they just holding hands?

• The mailbox was empty: there was no squid.
• The mailbox was empty; there was no squid.

It’s a question of nuance, and one that you, as a writer, will have to decide for yourself. Or you could just avoid the dilemma by using a period instead.

• The mailbox was empty. There was no squid.

It’s your call.

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