This time we’ll take up the so-called “comma splice,” one of the
most common errors in student writing. It is one form of the
“run-on sentence,” but unlike a “fused” sentence, which runs
together two independent clauses (i.e., complete
sentences)—e.g., "The League of Nations was the centerpiece of
President Wilson’s Fourteen Points the U.S. failure to ratify it
devastated him"—the comma splice entails a comma between the two
clauses, whereas what is required is a period or a semi-colon,
that is, a full stop rather than just a pause. Here’s an
example: Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in 49 BC, with
this decision he launched Rome into a civil war. Both clauses
are independent and thus CANNOT be separated by a simple comma.
Because, however, the two statements are closely related, it is
tempting to signal merely a pause between them (using a comma)
rather than a complete stop (signaled by the period). To
eliminate the error of a comma splice, but avoid the sharp halt
broadcast by the period, you can empl