The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style : A ...

un-on sentence 371
RUN and STAND. One who seeks
to be elected to any governmental office
in the United States runs for election. In
the United Kingdom, one who seeks
election to office stands for election. Yet
a story in American newspapers said
about Democrats in the Senate:
. . . Several of their members who will
stand for re-election next year were
elected with the support of traditional
black liberals.
It would suit a British paper. The American
verb is run, not “stand.” Unless the
writer was new to the United States and
unfamiliar with its idiom, her motivation
for a usage so strange to American eyes
and ears is obscure.
See also Pronouns, 3.
RUN AWAY and RUNAWAY. A
newspaper’s TV guide listed, among
scheduled programs, “Runaway With
the Rich and Famous.” If the program
had dealt with a child fleeing from home,
runaway (noun) might be right. However,
inasmuch as the program urged
watchers to run away (verb), the two
words should have been kept separate.
RUN-OFF. See MAJORITY, 1.
Run-on sentence. 1. Classical runons.
2. Comma faults.
1. Classical run-ons
A computer company climaxed a
magazine ad in this way: “They build
more than computers they build relationships.”
Signs throughout vehicles of a city’s
transit system say, “PLEASE HOLD ON
SUDDEN STOPS NECESSARY.”
Those are run-on sentences. A run-on
sentence is like two (or more) sentences
glued together, end to end. Each is an independent
clause; that is, it has a subject
and verb and could stand alone as an independent
sentence. Right now the two
are illegitimately paired, neither separate
nor properly joined. They should be either
granted full independence as two
sovereign sentences or united by means
of due punctuation. A semicolon (;) or a
dash (—) would unite them properly.
Separated: “They build more than
computers. They build relationships.” /
“PLEASE HOLD ON. SUDDEN
STOPS NECESSARY.” (Better: “SUD-
DEN STOPS ARE NECESSARY.”)
Joined: “They build more than computers;
they build relationships.” Or
“They build more than computers—they
build relationships.” A colon (:) could be
used for punctuation instead. Any of
those marks would fit the transit notice.
2. Comma faults
A common form of run-on (which
some classify as a separate defect) is the
comma fault, also known as the comma
splice. It purports to make a comma the
punctuation between two independent
clauses. A comma cannot handle the job.
It neither separates nor joins the two
clauses adequately. The first example is
from a main news story:
In 1949 Gov. Alfred E. Driscoll, a
Republican, offered him a seat on the
New Jersey Superior Court, he gratefully
accepted.
One way to correct the example is to
change the third comma to a period and
make the last three words a separate sentence.
A second way is to change that
comma to a semicolon. A third way is to
substitute a conjunction, namely and.
Similarly, the comma is inadequate in
this snippet from a magazine article:
Catholics didn’t sing, everyone knew
that.
Split it into two three-word sentences or
swap the comma for a semicolon or
dash.