What Is A Run-On Sentence?

A run-on sentence is one that contains two or more independent clauses connected by a comma(s). Each independent clause could stand alone as its own sentence, but they are inadvertently joined because they relate so closely to one another. This is especially an issue with transcription because of the way people speak, literally running sentences together.

It's not always easy, it's not always fun, it's not always fair.

Because each of these sentences can stand alone, they cannot be joined by a comma alone. In verbatim transcription, we do not have the option of adding conjunctions to the sentence. That leaves us two options:

It's not always easy. It's not always fun. It's not always fair.

-OR-

It's not always easy; it's not always fun; it's not always fair. (More on the use of semicolons later.)

The easiest way to guard against run-ons is to consciously think about whether each sentence you type is a full sentence. Once you have typed a full sentence, stop and think about how to handle the rest of the speaker's thought. It takes practice, but if you consciously think about it, it will become second nature. Listening ahead in the audio while typing will enable you to do this seamlessly as well.

Let's look at real example from a recent file:

I'm honest, so it was new to them, they were just going and being pampered by whatever spa would pamper them.

I'm honest, (STOP - this is a full sentence; the speaker uses a conjunction, so we can continue with a comma) so it was new to them. (STOP - another full sentence; the speaker starts a new sentence without a conjunction, so we use a period) They were just going and being pampered by whatever spa would pamper them.

I'm honest, so it was new to them. They were just going and being pampered by whatever spa would pamper them.

Eliminating run-on sentences from your transcripts is just one more way to increase their readability and usefulness for the reader.