ABSTRACT
The run-on sentence, the "grandfather of all mistakes," usually goes on too long without having any clear connection between its many clauses and phrases. Because it is so involved, it begets many errors. The independent clause was visualized as a larger block, and the dependent clause as a smaller block. This may sound like game-playing, but it will help criminal justice professionals overcome the difficulty they may have in visualizing what is discussed regarding grammar. Some people tend to use punctuation like pepper on soup–without careful placement. Commas are not the only punctuation abused. In a run-on sentence, confusion often exists as to which subject goes with which verb. Most people think of the sentence fragment as the sentence that is too short. However, a very long group of words introduced by a subordinating word such as when, although, since, or because may still be a sentence fragment. Most people correctly use many shortcuts and fragments when speaking.
