Wonderings and Googlings (Wherein I wonder about words, then I Google them)
run-on sentence = 373,000 hits
misplaced modifier = 40,100 hits
I don't believe in run-on sentences. My working theory is that they're bogeymen invented by professional writers in order to scare the crap out of aspiring writers, divert newbies' attention from more important issues like misplaced modifiers, and thereby thin out the competition.
In all my years of copy editing and reading friends' never-to-be-published novels and memoirs, I've never seen a sentence like: Joe heard footsteps they crunched on the leaves his breathing quickened he broke into a run it was too late the hot breath was on his neck. (Of course, I've never edited Cormac McCarthy, but that's another discussion.)
Nope, the run-on sentence, in my experience, is not a real problem for writers. However, I do frequently come across misplaced and poorly placed modifiers: Wilson took a three-year hiatus in 1994.
The Google search affirms my suspicion: run-on sentences are overhyped.
About June
June Casagrande was born in March and lives in a small house. She wrote a grammar/humor book called "Mortal Syntax" and, before that, one called "Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies." She sincerely hopes you buy a million copies of each.
Connections
Causes June Casagrande Supports
Planned Parenthood, ClimateCrisis.net, the Richard Dawkins Foundation, Pet Orphans of Southern California, KIVA
I see run-ons!
I don't see run-ons like your example, but I've seen plenty of commas used where terminal punctuation was required: "I put all the goodies in my basket and then I set off for Grandma's house, I wish she didn't live in that scary forest." Also, I'm always seeing "then" used as a conjunction (I realize that this is becoming commonplace, but it makes me cringe a little): "Grandma smiled at me, then I complimented her on her large teeth." or (worse): "Grandma smiled at me then I complimented her on her large teeth." Those are run-ons, to my mind.
But I agree that misplaced modifiers are a much larger problem! I used to collect comical ones....
True
You're right. I do see some stuff like that, though I categorize 'em as a subcategory of run-ons: comma splices.
Still, I think they're distractions from more important problems, like wordiness ("Guests can select the package of their choice") and awkward structure ("Upon receiving the invitation in the mail, the guest is then invited to make a selection based upon various criteria.)
I never paid much attention to "then." I'm gonna think on that one. Thanks for calling it to my attention!
The "then" issue
When I was a wee fledgling copy editor, I worked under a ferociously brilliant copy chief who really (really, really) hated to see a misused "then." She passed on that bugbear to me. I don't think it bothers most people. It certainly never impedes meaning or sense. I usually leave it alone in a light copyedit. :)
Ah.
Thanks for that perspective. I'm so slow deciding how I feel about stuff like that. (Like, a whole year slow.) So that helps!