Correcting Run-On Sentences Proofreading Practice

This exercise will give you practice in identifying and correcting run-on sentences. Before attempting the exercise, you may find it helpful to review how to  correct a run-on sentence with a period or semicolon  and  correcting run-ons through coordination and subordination. The following paragraph contains three run-on sentences (fused sentences and/or comma splices). Read the paragraph aloud and mark any run-on sentences that you find. Then correct each run-on according to the method you think is most effective. When you have completed the exercise, compare your corrections with the following paragraph below it. Run-On Sentence Exercise Why I Had to Get Rid of the Monster Although I am a dog-lover by nature, I recently had to give away my three-month-old retriever, Plato. I had several good reasons for doing so. A few months ago I picked up the dog at the Humane Society as a Christmas gift for my girlfriend. Alas, she dumped me on Christmas Eve I was left to console myself by caring for the dog. Thats when my true misery began. For one thing, Plato was not housebroken. Throughout the apartment he left little mementos, staining rugs and furniture and fouling the air, he would burrow under any newspapers I laid down for him. To make matters worse, his untamed potty habits were supported by an insatiable appetite. Not content with a sack of Kibbles n Bits every day, he would also gnaw at the couch and shred clothes, sheets, and blankets, one night he chewed up a friends new pair of clogs. Finally, Plato simply wasnt happy being cooped up by himself in a small apartment. Whenever I left, he would begin whimpering, and that soon turned into furious barking . As a result, my neighbors were threatening to murder both me and the monster, as they took to calling him. So, after six weeks of life with Plato, I gave him away to my uncle in Baxley. Fortunately, Uncle Jerry is quite accustomed to animal feed, waste, noise, and destruction. Corrected Version of Run-On Sentence Paragraph Below is the corrected version of the paragraph used in the exercise above. Why I Had to Get Rid of the Monster Although I am a dog-lover by nature, I recently had to give away my three-month-old retriever, Plato. I had several good reasons for doing so. A few months ago I picked up the dog at the Humane Society as a Christmas gift for my girlfriend.  Alas, when she dumped me on Christmas Eve, I was left to console myself by caring for the dog.  Thats when my true misery began. For one thing, Plato was not housebroken.  Throughout the apartment he left little mementos, staining rugs and furniture and fouling the air. He would burrow under any newspapers I laid down for him.  To make matters worse, his untamed potty habits were supported by an insatiable appetite.  Not content with a sack of Kibbles n Bits every day, he would also gnaw at the couch and shred clothes, sheets, and blankets. One night he chewed up a friends new pair of clogs.  Finally, Plato simply wasnt happy being cooped up by himself in a small apartment. Whenever I left, he would begin whimpering, and that soon tur ned into furious barking. As a result, my neighbors were threatening to murder both me and the monster, as they took to calling him. So, after six weeks of life with Plato, I gave him away to my uncle in Baxley. Fortunately, Uncle Jerry is quite accustomed to animal feed, waste, noise, and destruction.