Mechanics: Run-on Sentences

A run-on sentence blurs ideas:

I looked down at my plate when he entered the room I felt so embarrassed recalling last night's behavior.

In this sentence, the phrase "when he entered the room" has a kind of "two-way stretch" effect. It might be the end of a first independent clause:

I looked down at my plate when he entered the room.

Or it might begin the second:

When he entered the room I felt so embarrassed....

Run-on sentences can only be fixed when the writer asks what she meant to say and arranges the main clauses and subordinate clauses accordingly. Reading these sentences aloud and noticing their natural pauses will help the writer decide. She might choose a remedy similar to that for a comma splice: inserting punctuation, rearranging the order, or editing the whole mess.

I looked down at my plate when he entered the room. [or ;] I felt so embarrassed, recalling last night's behavior.

When he entered the room I looked down at my plate. [or ;] I felt so embarrassed, recalling last night's behavior.

When he entered the room I looked down at my plate, embarrassed to recall last night's behavior.

   Sentence Fragments
   Comma Splices
   Run-on Sentences
   Dangling or Misplaced Modifiers
   Subject-Verb Agreement
   Split Infinitives
   Which, That, It, and Of
   Semi-colons and Colons
   Apostrophes
   His and Her