How to punctuate independent clauses

An independent clause is a group of words that work by themselves as a sentence. A simple sentence consists of one independent clause.

When joining independent clauses, a common mistake is to use a comma or no punctuation. There are several solutions to punctuate them correctly.

An independent clause is a clause that can stand alone as a complete sentence. For example: Jenny ran the race well.

They can also be joined to make longer sentences.

Most mistakes occur when joining two independent clauses when using a comma (sometimes called comma splicing) or no punctuation (called a run-on sentence).

An example of comma splicing: ‘Jenny ran the race well, she came third overall.’

An example of a run-on sentence: ‘Jenny ran the race well she came third overall.’

How should you do it?

You could do any of the following:

1. Write two complete sentences.

Example: ‘Jenny ran the race well. She came third overall.’

2. Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction

Example: ‘Jenny ran the race well, but she came third overall.’

3. Use a semicolon

Example: ‘Jenny ran the race well; she came third overall.’

4. Use a subordinate conjunction

Example 1: ‘When Jenny ran the race well, she came third overall.’
Example 2: ‘Jenny ran the race well, although she came third overall.’

Fiction writers, poets and speech makers might break these rules of punctuation to create particular effects.

For example, in dialogue and first-person narration, a character might be breathless, excited or upset and so speak quickly. The tiny pause created by a comma can clarify sentence structure (so the reader can understand it) whilst clearly showing the character’s rushing speech or thoughts.

For example:

• A panicking character might tell themselves to: "Think, think, think."
• In the middle of intense action, a character might say: "Just hold on, wait, now go!"

Traditionally, poems often used commas at the end of lines of verse. Commas help to separate ideas but do not interrupt the flow. Look at this example from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

More famous examples:

One of the most famous openings to a novel, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens uses comma splicing throughout:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.

Why is it effective?

The commas help to create a long list of opposites: 'best' and 'worst', 'wisdom' and 'foolishness'. Using a series of commas, instead of full stops or other punctuation, keeps building the main idea that it was a time period of opposites and contradictions.

Another famous example, this time from a speech, is when Julius Caesar, reporting back to Rome after winning a battle, famously said in Latin, “Veni, vidi, vici” which translates as “I came, I saw, I conquered”.

Why is it effective?

The use of commas to break up the three short clauses helps to suggest that he was a great military leader and that it was easy for him to win in just three steps.