Obviously, there is no punctuation in spoken dialogue. In summary, don't look to novels to follow grammar and punctuation rules precisely the priority in popular literature is more on style than perfection. A comma does more to simply and equally link the two independent clauses.
Yet this also subtly changes the feeling of the sentence by emphasizing believe me. This would make the sentence both grammatically correct and still natural: There is no actual rule behind this that I know of, just an overall style preference.Ī more elegant way to punctuate the dialogue than with the use of a semicolon would be with an em dash. The independent clauses could be joined by a semicolon, but this looks foreign and unnatural in dialogue. The change in punctuation creates a subtle difference in the character's tone, wouldn't you say? To comment specifically on the use of comma splices in dialogue, though, imagine reading one of these sentences if the comma were replaced by a period: Comma splices are usually one of those listed exceptions and are often overlooked in both dialogue and narration. In the publishing process, editors develop a style sheet that lists exceptions to grammar and punctuation rules that should be allowed in the work at hand. As you can imagine, novels allow for a bending of conventional grammar rules to account for author style and pacing. I copyedit and proofread novels, so I can tell you that this is a grammatical error very commonly allowed in fiction. I was wondering if any writers here would use comma splices in dialogue as above.Īny advice would be appreciated! Thank you. Is there also an argument that says that commas in dialogue, even if they cause comma splices, are less distracting to the reader than a semi-colon in the middle of a sentence, which they may not fully understand or that may take away from the natural flow of the words? I know a lot of editors like to avoid using semi-colons and colons in dialogue, and wonder if this is why so many comma splices are creeping in?Īre comma splices more acceptable in dialogue than in regular text, in the way that commas can indicate pauses and so mimic more natural sounding speech? I keep seeing this type of things in really well-known novels. He's a straight shooter, I'll give him that. I'm not going, I don't care what you see. I read things (all in dialogue, in inverted commas) like: I was done with the exam I put my pen and paper down and was waiting for the teacher to start collecting papers.At university, it was drilled into us to avoid comma splices like the plague, but I keep seeing them in all different types of famous, best-selling novels. Since I was done with the exam, I put my pen and paper down, waiting for the teacher to start collecting papers. We can join them either using a comma or a conjunction. Unattached phrases must be made part of a complete sentence. Waiting for the teacher to start collecting papers. Since I was done with the exam, I put my pen and paper down. The easiest way to count the number of clauses in a sentence is to count the number of verbs, then find their corresponding subjects. Since you drew the short straw, you must walk to the gas station while we stay here. I am upset that it is snowing in the middle of April. As the following examples illustrate, a sentence may consist of a single clause or may contain multiple clauses: One clause: In English, a clause is defined as a unit that contains both a verb and its subject. In order to understand how these errors occur, it is first necessary to define clauses in English.
This happens to be my life nowadays.Īside from typographical errors, the two most common causes of fragments are the misuse of subordinators and the misuse of prepositions. Correct:Īfter the classes, I am going to the library. In the first sentence, introduce the subject and in the second add the main verb. There are many ways to correct the sentences above.
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