| A | B |
|---|
| The ice-covered sidewalk was slippery and unfortunately, several people fell on their bottoms. | incorrect - A comma is needed after slippery because this is a compound sentence. |
| Some students ate in the cafeteria others went outside in the sunshine. | incorrect - This is a run-on sentence. Put either a semicolon or a comma and coordinating conjunction after cafeteria or make the independent clauses into separate sentences. |
| Who are going, and where are they going? | incorrect - This is a compound sentence, but the independent clauses are short. No comma is needed |
| The waves were enormous, yet the surfer rescued his new surfboard. | correct - It is a compound sentence. |
| The bears stole all our food, and ambled away. | incorrect - This is a simple sentence with a compound verb, so no comma is needed. |
| Dark clouds gathered above the baseball field rain fell steadily. | incorrect - This is a run-on. Put a semicolon after field or add a comma and a coordinating conjunction or make it into two sentences. |
| The army finally tracked Geronimo to his camp in the mountains. | correct - a simple sentence |
| I went outside looked at the sky and closed the sunroof on my car. | incorrect - It is a simple sentence, and you need commas after looked and sky because this is a series of verbs. |
| Geronimo wanted revenge so he gathered a band of men. | incorrect - This is a compound sentence, and you need a comma after revenge. |
| Geronimo died in 1909 he was a courageous man to the end. | incorrect - This is a run-on sentence. Put either a semicolon or a comma and coordinating conjunction after 1909 or make the independent clauses into separate sentences. |
| After the blizzard, we shoveled, plowed, and swept the snow away. | correct - This is a simple sentence with a series of verbs. |
| Who is expecting a storm and when will the storm arrive? | incorrect - This is a compound sentence. Put a comma after storm. |
| She dreamed about skating in competitions, yet she still needed ice skates. | correct - This is a compound sentence. |
| We gathered our outgrown clothes and toys and put them neatly in boxes. | correct - This is a simple sentence. |
| My mother drove us to the shelter, and spoke to the administrator there. | incorrect - This is a simple sentence with a compound verb, so no comma is necessary. |
| I will go home and you should go, too. | correct - A compound sentence with short independent clauses does not need a comma. |
| Geraldine gave some good advice to me and got some from me in return. | correct - a simple sentence |
| Participants climbed stairs walked and reported results. | incorrect - This is a simple sentence with verbs in a series. A comma is needed after stairs and walked. |
| The police searched everywhere but there were no fingerprints at the crime scene. | incorrect - This is a compound sentence, so a comma is needed after everywhere. |
| Monday’s guidance meeting had gone smoothly yet I detected an ugly controversy between Sara Smart and Danny Dugan. | incorrect - This is a compound sentence. A comma is needed after smoothly. You could also delete "yet" and put in a semicolon or make two sentences out of the clauses. |
| Patricia Riley Giff wrote Lily’s Crossing, and she also wrote Nory Ryan’s Song. | correct - a compound sentence |
| Lily Mollahan is the main character of Lily’s Crossing but there is another main character. | incorrect - This is a compound sentence, so it needs a comma after "Crossing" or replace the "but" with a semicolon or make the two clauses into separate sentences. |
| Lily and Margaret sneak into the Dillon’s attic they eat all Eddie’s candy. | incorrect - This is run-on, and to fix, it needs either a semicolon after "attic" or a comma and coordinating conjunction or treat each independent clause as as separate sentence. |
| I will not eat pepperoni pizza, nor will I eat pizza with anchovies. | correct - a compound sentence |
| Bats have shiny leather wings, bats do many clever things. | incorrect - This is a comma splice. Fix it by changing the comma to a semicolon or add a c.c. after the comma or make two separate sentences out of the clauses. |
| Margaret moves to Detroit, but leaves the key to her house for Lily. | incorrect - This is simple sentence with a compound verb; remove the comma. |
| Like acrobats in the sky, bats cavort in soaring cliques, and they catch every bug in their path. | correct - a compound sentence |
| Captain Conniption does not wash his face, cut his nails, or brush his teeth. | correct - a simple sentence with a compound verb (verbs in a series) |
| Albert can not tolerate the noise of an airplane nor can he tolerate the news reels. | incorrect - This is a compound sentence. A comma is needed after "airplane," or you can treat each clause as a separate sentence. |
| The goat ate an assortment of sprockets; and he swallowed some springs by the coil. | incorrect - This is a compound sentence. Use the semicolon all by itself w/o the c.c. |
| Many of the sixth graders participated in the talent show, all of them did a fabulous job. | incorrect - This is a run-on called a comma splice. Add a c.c. after the comma or change the comma to a semicolon. A third option - make it two sentences. |
| Lawrence was terrific on the piano, for he had practiced his piece for many nights. | correct - a compound sentence |
| Ben surprised us with his rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” ; everyone felt like dancing. | correct - This is a compound sentence. BTW - It s correct to place the semicolon outside the quotation mark. |
| The hungry goat polished off various bearings; and he munched on a mountain of brass. | incorrect - This is a compound sentence, but double-dipping is going on here. Choices: 1) delete the "and." 2) replace the semicolon with a comma so you'll have a comma and c.c. 3) make these clauses two separate sentences. |
| Turn up the volume but do not lose control. | correct - an imperative compound sentence - Yes, usually, you would place a comma after "volume," but because there are four words in each clause, then no comma is needed (remember the short clause rule). |
| Ski down the double black diamond; he will see your skiing abilities. | correct - a compound sentence |
| The entire sixth grade will be seeing the play Lily’s Crossing, yet everyone did not enjoy the novel. | correct - a compound sentence |
| We will read next Tales Mummies Tell; it is a nonfiction text. | correct - a compound sentence |
| I read and you read. | correct - This is a compound sentence, but because the independent clauses are short (fewer than four words), no comma is needed. |
| The mummies will mystify and amaze Robbie he will go to the Museum of Natural History for a closer look. | incorrect - This is a run-on sentence. Split it into two sentences or put a semicolon or a comma and a c.c. after "mummies." |
| Galveston was getting ready for Labor Day weekend, but the vacationers were unaware of an impending mega-storm. | correct - compound sentence |
| Galveston was getting ready for Labor Day weekend, and was enjoying the last days of summer. | incorrect - This is a simple sentence with a compound verb, so no comma is needed. |
| Galveston was getting reeady for Labor Day weekend, vacationers were hoping for three days of sun and fun. | incorrect - This is a comma splice. Put a cc after the comma, or replace the comma with a semicolon, or replace the comma with a period, making it two sentences. |
| The hurricane was expected, and it was fierce. | Incorrect - This is a compound sentence, but no comma is needed because the clauses are four words or fewer. |
| Chris ate a whole pizza pie and drank a entire liter of Coke and polished off a pint of double fudge ice cream. | correct - This is a simple sentence with compound verbs joined together with "and." In this case, "and" takes the place of a commas. |
| Chris ate a pizza pie, drank a liter of Coke, and then polished off a pint of chocolate ice cream. | correct - simple sentence with compound verb (3) |
