Run-on or Cumulative

Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. ~Abigail Adams

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A run on sentence can go on for what seems a long time, never really saying anything.
What makes up a run on sentence?

When a person ends a sentence to quick, it is considered a fragment.

Johnny went.

Where did Johnny go?

Look at the following sentence.
I saw a teacher who cares.
 
The author of this sentence may have wanted to write:
I saw a teacher. Who cares? A complete sentence followed by a question.
 
Using periods (and other forms of punctuation) and knowing when to end a sentence are very important. If you don't end a sentence appropriately, the intended meaning can be changed, or it can be misunderstood. Sometimes the meaning is simply incomprehensible.
 
When a person learns to write English sentences and compositions, one common problem is writing sentences that are too long. When a sentence ends too quickly, it is called a sentence fragment. When a sentence has too many ideas and runs on too long, it is called a run-on sentence. If you have this problem, don't worry. It is quite easy to fix.
 
The first thing you need to do is identify when a sentence is a run-on. A run-on is a sentence that really has TWO sentences (or complete ideas) INCORRECTLY combined into one. It is okay to combine two sentences into one, but you must follow some rules.
 
You might be wondering: "What is a sentence?" A sentence consists of 3 things:
 
1) a subject (the noun or proper noun that is performing the action.)
 
2) a verb (that would be the action)
 
3) a complete idea (we’re not left waiting to read another word. It is complete)
 
The run on is not a complete idea. Too many words later you realize there is no complete thought in the sentence turned paragraph.
 
Timmy went to the store for his mother and bought a loaf of bread and he came back home and got ready for the dance that evening and then he felt queasy because he was unsure if his date would really like him and he passed out.
 
There is really a complete idea here with:  Timmy went to the store for his mom.
 
A cumulative sentence has a different meaning.
 
An independent clause  followed by a series of subordinate constructions (phrases  or clauses that gather details about a person, place, event, or idea. It gathers. The sentence doesn’t run on and on.  It is building into a complete a sentence; a complete thought.
 
To me, a writer, this seems like both the sentences are the same, but with further study they are different in the flow and fluid feel when they come from your lips.
 
If you read out loud, (and I advise everyone to do this with their work) or at least HEAR it spoken, you’ll see the difference in the sounds of the sentences.
 
Timmy, in his youth, went to the store one day to get him mom a loaf of bread, only to return and realize he had to get ready for the party of which he was unsure his date would like him.
 
Complete thought. Cumulative. It builds into a sentence and gives you a complete thought.

Now you try and practice. Take a kernel sentence like, Jane ran. Now run with it! Make it a cumulative sentence and not a run-on!

Get to work writers!

kernels

Matt. 12: 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

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Well, I’m taking this course at WVU and as much as I love to learn, I can’t seem to take my mentor hat off. I mentor, which means aid and assist other writers, in the course. I’m not mentoring this class and I have to be able to take my hard hat off because some people don’t want to hear that a sentence was not good, or it didn’t work, or that they exceeded the word count.

There’s that issue again, word count. Well when the course calls for 500 words and I see people posting 600 words, 700 words and even 800-1500 words, it irks me to no end. I say, CUT IT people! This is a lesson, not a marathon to see if you can get your point across. If you can’t make your point in 500 words, then guess what, you didn’t make your point at all.

The second lesson was about a rose. (Don’t ask.) I wrote the lesson and it went to 589 words. SNIP, CUT, CHOP. I got it down to 507! Much closer to the word count called for and a lot tighter too. Not the awesome imagery I’m used to, not the free feeling of just let it go and let it flow, but guess what, I wrote it, got my point across, and I’ll post it today to see what others think. Wish me luck. :-)

My lesson one grew from a mass of kernel sentences. He was lean. He had stubble. It was gray. And so on and so forth. We were to make one sentence, and quite a long sentence, to make the kernels sentences one. I did it, I hope. All the writer’s had different takes on the sentence and I didn’t see many foul ups, so my mentor hat said good job. It’s amazing to see how one kernel can grow into a whole bowl of popcorn!

On another note, some people commented and asked me to use the words HIS and WAS instead of the stronger word choice I used. Thank you for the great critique but guess what? WAS is passive and an excess word in writing. I try to cut those words out and use them to a minimum, if at all possible. If it became the stronger word choice, by all means I would use the suggestion.

From one kernel grew a 507 word piece for the next lesson. I don’t even care if I got it right. I wrote, didn’t draw a blank, and got it all in, in 500 words. kibble kibble. I mean, good girl Joni, now write some more.

On that note I’m off to inspire myself. Hey, I can only inspire all of you once a day, I need some time to inspire myself. :-)

Write people! No matter what, writing is in you and you need to fulfill your destiny.

godspeed...