Introduction
In
brief There are three errors that are frequently made in sentence construction in academic and
professional writing. In this module you will learn to identify and rectify:
 |
sentences with comma splices |
| run-on sentences and |
| sentence fragments. |
When proof-reading your drafts if you find such errors recast your work.
Before proceeding with this module, you may want to visit
Comma splice errors
Error 1. |
|
| incorrect: | Supplies of liquid fuels are diminishing, an alternative transport fuel is natural gas. |
| remedy: | This error can be fixed by changing the comma to a fullstop (.) which creates two separate sentences. |
| correct: | Supplies of liquid fuels are diminishing. An alternative transport fuel is natural gas. |
| other remedies | Supplies of liquid fuels are diminishing; an alternative transport fuel is natural gas. Supplies of liquid fuels are diminishing; however, an alternative transport fuel is natural gas. Even though supplies of liquid fuels are diminishing, an alternative transport fuel is natural gas. An alternative transport fuel is natural gas even though supplies of liquid fuels are diminishing, |
Self-check 1
Read
the following carefully. For each example indicate if it is correct, or if there is a
comma splice error.
| Sentence | Answer |
Result |
|
| 1. | A body on which no external force is
acting is called a ‘free body’, experiments |
||
| 2. | Since it expresses the tendency of bodies to maintain their original state of motion, Newton's First Law is also known as the Law of Inertia. | ||
| 3. | The First Law plays a duel role, it is a law
of nature as well as a definition of what is meant by an inertial reference frame. |
||
| 4. | Any two inertial reference frames can differ only by some constant relative velocity, they cannot differ by an acceleration. | ||
| 5. | The force on a particle can be calculated as a product of its mass and acceleration, the mass of a body increases with increasing velocity according to Einstein's Law of Relativity. | ||
|
|||