ABSTRACT
Comma Splice Errors On the highway a red light means stop. A blinking yellow light means slow down. In writing, a period means stop, whereas a comma means slow down.
People are accustomed to finding a period at the end of a sentence. When they come to a comma, they expect the next group of words to continue the same sentence rather than start a new sentence. If a comma is followed by a whole new sentence, readers become momentarily confused and have to stop, get reoriented, and then mentally start again.
