Postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT) Practice Test

A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined incorrectly by a comma without a coordinating conjunction. In the statement "I had too many nachos, I feel sick," both parts could stand alone as complete sentences: "I had too many nachos." and "I feel sick." However, they are improperly connected by just a comma, resulting in a comma splice. Properly connecting these clauses could be achieved by using a semicolon, a period, or adding a coordinating conjunction (like "and" or "but"). This understanding is crucial for clear and correct sentence construction, as it helps avoid run-on sentences while maintaining sentence variety and flow.