Which of the following is a run-on sentence?
A. In 1783, the US Congress ratified a preliminary peace treaty, the US and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, British troops left New York City, and George Washington resigned as commander.
B. On April 19, 1783, the US Congress ratified a preliminary peace treaty, and the Treaty of Paris followed about five months later.
C. On September 3, 1783, The US and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, and two months later, British troops left New York City.
D. On April 19, 1783, the US Congress ratified a preliminary peace treaty and five months later, the US and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris and British troops left New York City in November.
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The correct answer is A. “In 1783, the US Congress ratified a preliminary peace treaty, the US and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, British troops left New York City, and George Washington resigned as commander.”
Explanation:
A run-on sentence occurs when two or more independent clauses (complete thoughts) are incorrectly joined together without proper punctuation or conjunctions. The sentence in option A contains multiple independent clauses joined together improperly.
Option A Breakdown:
- Clause 1: “In 1783, the US Congress ratified a preliminary peace treaty.”
- Clause 2: “The US and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris.”
- Clause 3: “British troops left New York City.”
- Clause 4: “George Washington resigned as commander.”
These are four independent clauses that should be separated by punctuation marks such as periods, semicolons, or conjunctions (with commas). However, they are simply joined by commas, creating a comma splice, which is a type of run-on sentence. Proper punctuation is necessary to clarify the relationship between these clauses.
How to fix option A:
- Option 1: “In 1783, the US Congress ratified a preliminary peace treaty. The US and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, British troops left New York City, and George Washington resigned as commander.”
- Option 2: “In 1783, the US Congress ratified a preliminary peace treaty; the US and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, British troops left New York City, and George Washington resigned as commander.”
Each independent clause needs to be properly separated to avoid the confusion and lack of clarity inherent in run-on sentences.
Why other options are not run-on sentences:
- Option B: “On April 19, 1783, the US Congress ratified a preliminary peace treaty, and the Treaty of Paris followed about five months later.”
This is a correctly punctuated sentence, with the conjunction “and” properly linking two independent clauses. - Option C: “On September 3, 1783, The US and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, and two months later, British troops left New York City.”
This sentence also correctly uses “and” to connect two independent clauses. - Option D: “On April 19, 1783, the US Congress ratified a preliminary peace treaty and five months later, the US and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris and British troops left New York City in November.”
The conjunction “and” correctly connects the clauses here, and while it’s a bit lengthy, it isn’t a run-on sentence.