Teaching Expertise

What exactly is a run-on sentence? Run-on sentences occur when two or more independent clauses are not correctly joined by proper punctuation or linking words. In essence, they’re ‘improper sentences’. These handy activities will help your students identify independent clauses and ‘fix’ their run-on sentences in no time! Learning this English technique will improve their ability to write clear and coherent sentences that aren’t dragged out.

1. Fix the Sentences

This worksheet displays a selection of ‘broken’ sentences that students are required to fix. There provide handy explanations and a few different types of ‘run on’ sentences for students to identify and then correct to develop their writing process. 

Learn More: English For Everyone

2. Play a Game

Add an interactive element to your English lesson and segment several run-on sentence examples. Students can edit sentences; correct grammar and amend punctuation. Students can discuss their answers with a friend and explain why they chose to edit in a certain way. 

Learn More: The Classroom

3. A YouTube Tutorial

This child-friendly video explains what exactly a run-on sentence is and how to correct them. This would be great for home-school or remote learning students, or even as a fun introduction to this topic in the physical classroom! 

Learn More: Homeschool Pop

4. Adding conjunctions and punctuation

This is another handy grammar sheet to check student understanding or use as a filler activity after an English lesson. These will require students to add in necessary conjunctions and punctuation to correct the run-on sentence.

Learn More: K5 Learning

5. Lolly Stick Sentences

This is an easy-to-organize activity that allows students to construct sentences and clearly displays their understanding of proper punctuation and linking words. Students must match the subject and predicate popsicle sticks in this hands-on activity.

Learn More: Teach Me Mommy

6. Fabulous Freebie

This great game incorporates a simple heads and tails coin flip to see which part of the activity card the students will complete. On each card, the students are required to identify if it’s a run-on, a sentence fragment, or a proper sentence to really embed grammatical concepts! 

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

7. Online Drag-and-drop

This resource provides a fun way to teach grammar! The online worksheet allows learners to drag and drop various independent sentences into the correct parts of the grid. It has an audio version which is perfect for children with additional needs.

Learn More: Wordwall

8. Bamboozle

This is a competitive whole-class game. Split your class into two teams and play this fun run-on sentence quiz. In teams, students need to fix the list of sentences to earn points to win! 

Learn More: Baamboozle

9. Learn From the Experts

This comprehensive lesson plan is tailored for older students and provides several ways in which to teach this concept in a classroom setting. Using index cards, markers, and some broken ‘run on’ sentences, it’s the student’s job to fix these and present them to the class.

Learn More: Teach-nology

10. Home Learning Activities

Using Khan Academy, students can rewatch and learn the lesson and answer follow-up questions to track the progress of their developing knowledge of run-on sentences. They can identify sentence errors and amend them. 

Learn More: Khan Academy