Pennington Publishing Blog

Learning how to fix run-on sentences can be challenging for writers of all levels. From beginning writers who don’t have the conceptual grasp of a complete thought to more experience writers who get caught up in the mire of dependent clauses and phrases, here are a few workable strategies to revise these errors in sentence structure.

Definition: A sentence run-on consists of  two or more independent clauses connected together as if they were one sentence without the benefit of a conjunction or proper punctuation. An independent clause means that there is a subject and a connecting verb that express a complete thought. But first, let’s begin with what constitutes a complete sentence.

A Complete Sentence

1. tells a complete thought.
2. has both a subject and a predicate.
3. has the voice drop down at the end of a statement and the voice go up at the end of a question (in English).

Run-On Examples and Their Fixes

1. Separate the run-on into two or more sentences.

Run-On Example:

Luis told his brother he told his sister, too.

The Fix-Luis told his brother. He told his sister, too.

2. Add a semi-colon between the clauses.

Run-On Example:

Mary let him have it, she knew what she was doing.

The Fix-Mary let him have it; she knew what she was doing.

3. Add a comma, then a conjunction after the first independent clause.

Run-On Example:

I like her, she doesn’t like me.

The Fix-I like her, but she doesn’t like me.

4. Add a subordinating conjunction to one of the clauses.

Run-On Example:

Max was injured, he was still the best.

The Fix-Even though Max was injured, he was still the best.

5. Change the second clause to a phrase starting with an __ing word.

Run-On Example:

They went to school, they looked for him.

The Fix-They went to school, looking for him.

*****

Pennington Publishing Grammar Programs

Teaching Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics (Grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and High School) are full-year, traditional, grade-level grammar, usage, and mechanics programs with plenty of remedial practice to help students catch up while they keep up with grade-level standards. Twice-per-week, 30-minute, no prep lessons in print or interactive Google slides with a fun secret agent theme. Simple sentence diagrams, mentor texts, video lessons, sentence dictations. Plenty of practice in the writing context. Includes biweekly tests and a final exam.

Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Interactive Notebook (Grades 4‒8) is a full-year, no prep interactive notebook without all the mess. Twice-per-week, 30-minute, no prep grammar, usage, and mechanics lessons, formatted in Cornell Notes with cartoon response, writing application, 3D graphic organizers (easy cut and paste foldables), and great resource links. No need to create a teacher INB for student make-up work—it’s done for you! Plus, get remedial worksheets, biweekly tests, and a final exam.

Syntax in Reading and Writing is a function-based, sentence-level syntax program, designed to build reading comprehension and increase writing sophistication. The 18 parts of speech, phrases, and clauses lessons are each leveled from basic (elementary) to advanced (middle and high school) and feature 5 lesson components (10–15 minutes each): 1. Learn It!  2. Identify It!  3. Explain It! (analysis of challenging sentences) 4. Revise It! (kernel sentences, sentence expansion, syntactic manipulation) 5. Create It! (Short writing application with the syntactic focus in different genre).

Get the Diagnostic Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Assessments, Matrix, and Final Exam FREE Resource:

Get the “To Be” Verbs Posters FREE Resource:

Get the Grammar and Mechanics Grades 4-8 Instructional Scope and Sequence FREE Resource:

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SAT-takers generally find the critical reading sections challenging because both the sentence completion and passage-based reading sections are so vocabulary dependent. You may not have a huge academic vocabulary, but some concentrated study and knowing the following strategies can make a significant difference in your scores on the critical reading and multiple-choice writing sections.

Sentence Completion Strategies

Vocabulary recognition is critically important for both the Passage-based Reading and Sentence Completion Questions found in the Critical Reading section. The publisher of the SAT claims that these subtests measure “verbal reasoning abilities.” Hogwash! Much of the Sentence Completions and even the Passage-based Reading subsections only measure vocabulary. Not only do these subsections simply measure vocabulary; they also frequently test this vocabulary out of context. In other words, much of the SAT vocabulary is either already known or not known.

Some SAT preparation workbooks and classes (or perhaps a friendly English teacher you might know) will suggest that you memorize huge SAT vocabulary lists of hundreds of words. This approach runs contrary to both good reading research and just plain common sense. The publisher has a word bank of over 30,000 words. Even if you retained the meanings of every single word on a twenty-word weekly vocabulary test, you would only have learned 600 or so words by the end of one school year. Chances are that you would forget many of these anyway. Time invested in memorizing huge vocabulary lists would be better spent reading a good book.

In fact, for long term SAT vocabulary acquisition, reading is the best way to grow a huge vocabulary. As you read books at your reading level (word recognition of 95%), you will learn many of those unknown 5% words though effective use of context clues. Keep track of these words on a daily basis on 3 x 5 cards or on your computer, and you will be well on your way to developing the kind of SAT vocabulary that will score you the points you need.

But, for those of you non-readers who are taking the SAT in a few short weeks, there is still hope to improve your score on both the Critical Reading and Writing sections. Fortunately, the multiple-choice design of the SAT requires vocabulary only word recognition, rather than vocabulary word knowledge. For example, you may not be able to define, or even give an example of an “octogenarian.” However, you might be able to recognize that the “oct” part of the word means “eight” because you have prior knowledge that an “octopus” has eight tentacles.

Two effective short cuts toward better recognizing SAT vocabulary include these two strategies:

1. learning the most common Greek and Latin affixes/roots and
2. learning how to figure out the clues to meaning of unknown words through context clues.

Both of these strategies will help your short-term goal of dealing with the SAT vocabulary. The web provides wonderful resources for frequently-used word parts to print into SAT vocabulary study game cards and context clue exercises designed for SAT-takers.

The author of this article, Mark Pennington, has written the assessment-based Grammar, Mechanics, Spelling, and Vocabulary  Grades 4-8 programs to teach the Common Core Language Standards. Each full-year program provides 56 interactive grammar, usage, and mechanics and include sentence diagrams, error analysis, mentor texts, writing applications, and sentence dictation formative assessments with accompanying worksheets (L.1, 2). Plus, each grade-level program has weekly spelling pattern tests and accompanying spelling sort worksheets (L.2), 56 language application opener worksheets (L.3), and 56 vocabulary worksheets with multiple-meaning words, Greek and Latin word parts, figures of speech, word relationships with context clue practice, connotations, and four square academic language practice (L.4, 5, and 6). Comprehensive biweekly unit tests measure recognition, understanding, and application of all language components.

Grammar, Mechanics, Spelling, and Vocabulary  also has the resources to meet the needs of diverse learners. Diagnostic grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling assessments provide the data to enable teachers to individualize instruction with targeted worksheets. Each remedial worksheet (over 200 per program) includes independent practice and a brief formative assessment. Students CATCH Up on previous unmastered Standards while they KEEP UP with current grade-level Standards. Check out the YouTube introductory video of the Grammar, Mechanics, Spelling, and Vocabulary  program.

Grammar, Mechanics, Spelling, and Vocabulary
Grades 4-8 Programs

Spelling/Vocabulary Mark Pennington, passage-based, Reading, SAT, SAT 1, spelling, strategies, study, Teaching the Language Strand, test, vocabulary

One of the most common instructional practices in American schools make me cringe. In spite of pedagological common sense, teachers throughout America, from primary grades to high school, continue to pass out the list of 15-20 spelling words on Monday. Students “study” these lists, and perhaps complete an obligatory worksheet, crossword puzzle, or write-the-word-ten-times assignment, and then they are tested on these same words on Friday. It’s tradition. It’s as American as apple-pie. Parents care more about these language-arts activities than any others.

So, what’s wrong with this picture? The weekly spelling test procedures, as described above, make no use of the teacher as an informed practitioner. The first task of an informed teacher is to determine what students already know and don’t know. But, hold on just a minute! Most teachers (at least in the elementary grades) do give a spelling pretest on Monday. True. However, the second task of an informed teacher is to make use of the diagnostic data to differentiate instruction. Oh…well that is different.

So, how can an informed teacher (that is you) spelling differentiate instruction in an efficient manner? Simply follow these five steps:

1. Prepare: Administer the free Diagnostic Spelling Assessment to determine which spelling patterns your students have and have not mastered.

Diagnostic American English Spelling Assessment: Print Assessment with “Normal speed” 22:38 and “Quick version 17:26 audio file links. Recording Matrix for Progress Monitoring

Diagnostic Canadian English Spelling Assessment: Print Assessment with “Normal speed” 18:53 and “Quick version 21:12 audio file links. Recording Matrix for Progress Monitoring

2. Pretest: Dictate 15–20 grade-level spelling pattern words in the traditional word-sentence-word format to all your students. Have students self-correct from teacher dictation of letters in syllable chunks, marking dots below the correct letters, and marking an “X” through the numbers of any spelling errors. Don’t rob your students of this learning activity by correcting the pretest yourself.

3. Personalize: Students complete their own Personal Spelling List in Elkonin Sound Boxes to connect sounds to spellings in the following order of priority:

Pretest Errors: Students copy up to ten of their pretest spelling errors onto a Personal Spelling List. Ten words are certainly enough to practice the grade-level spelling pattern. I suggest using Elkonin Sound Boxes to connect sounds to spellings.

Last Week’s Posttest Errors: Students add up to five spelling errors from last week’s spelling posttest.

Writing Errors: Students add up to five teacher-corrected spelling errors found in student writing.

Supplemental Spelling Lists: Students select and use words from the following resources to complete their lists:

For remedial spellers:
Heart Words
High Frequency Words
Most Often Misspelled Words
Commonly Confused Words

For grade level and accelerated spellers:
Greek and Latin Morphology (combined affixes and bases)
Academic Language—Tier 2 words previously introduced by the teacher

4. Practice: Explain the spelling patterns. Students complete spelling sorts to identify similarities and differences among the patterns.

5. Posttest: Students take out a piece of binder paper and find a partner to exchange dictation of their Personal Spelling List words.

A Model Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence

Differentiated Spelling Instruction

Preview the Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence tied to the author’s comprehensive grades 3-8 Language Strand programs. The instructional scope and sequence includes grammar, usage, mechanics, spelling, and vocabulary. Teachers and district personnel are authorized to print and share this planning tool, with proper credit and/or citation. Why reinvent the wheel? Also check out my articles on Grammar Scope and Sequence, Mechanics Scope and Sequence, and Vocabulary Scope and Sequence.

FREE DOWNLOAD TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF PENNINGTON PUBLISHING AMERICAN ENGLISH AND CANADIAN ENGLISH SPELLING PROGRAMS. Check out these grades 3-8 programs HERE. Administer my FREE comprehensive Diagnostic Spelling Assessment with audio file and recording matrix. It has 102 words (I did say comprehensive) and covers all common spelling patterns and conventional spelling rules. It only takes 22 minutes and includes an audio file with test administration instructions. Once you see the gaps in your students’ spelling patterns, you’re going to want to fill those gaps.

Get the Diagnostic Spelling Assessment, Mastery Matrix, and Sample Lessons FREE Resource:

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