WRITING AND READING CENTER
WORKSHEET #11
RUN-ON SENTENCES, COMMA SPLICES, AND FRAGMENTS
Learning Outcome: Upon successful completion of this worksheet, students will be able to
identify run-on sentences, sentence fragments, and comma splices and correct them,
Before you begin: If you need to refresh your memory about run-on sentences, sentence
fragments, and comma splices and the ways to correct them, please consult a handbook like
Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference here in the WRC or visit The Guide to Grammar.
When you are done: Worksheets are designed to be a self-teaching opportunity. Therefore, we
provide the answer keys so that, when you are done, you can check your answers. Should you
want to consult with a professor on duty about your answers, please be sure to check your
answers first.
Directions: Using the space on the bottom of this sheet, correct run-ons, comma splices, and
fragments in the following passage. You may connect two sentences together, you may add
subjects or verbs if needed, and you may combine clauses. Use correct punctuation
Example: Volcanic activity from the ocean floor may form new islands, lava cooled
by the water creates land mass.
Volcanic activity from the ocean floor may form new islands as lava cooled
by the water creates land mass.
The volcanic birth of the island of Surtsey, near Iceland, is one of the most spectacular
geological phenomena of modern times. Early on the morning of November 14, 1963, a fishing
vessel reported a gigantic spouting in the sea the vessel itself was given a violent twist, as if it
had been caught in a whirlpool. Within three hours, a column of vapor, ash, and solidified bits of
lava had reached 12,000 feet. A day later a narrow ridge of land had appeared above the surface
of the water, this new land mass consisted chiefly of loose, porous material. A result of hot lava
meeting cold water deep in the sea. The island continued to grow, eruption after eruption sent
columns of debris to 50,000 feet. The explosions were not loud vapor apparently muffled the
noise. After each explosion, cinders, ash, and pumice shot up in a dark mass, superheated steam
shot up in a dark mass. Sightseeing ships and aircraft were bombarded by huge hailstones formed
by the cooled, condensed steam. If they dared too close. At night the cone of the volcano glowed
with bombs these continually rolled down the slope into the hissing surf. Overhead, lightning
sent purplish veins through the dark smoke, thunder cracked repeatedly. A year later a lake of
molten lava formed in the crater the lava began sending a perpetual stream of orange fire toward
the sea. Eruptions continued until June 1967 at that time the new island covered nearly two
square miles.
