Editing: Those darn comma splices?

Question

I have a question regarding comma splices. I'm trying to learn more about comma splices and how to remove them from some work I am doing. I understand the basics regarding them but I have a question regarding a possibly more complex example.It is hard to describe the situation so perhaps an example (based on the plight of the poor Razzies :P) will do:> It had been a thousand years since the Razzies had known the horrors> of the king's might, a thousand years since he had sailed across> the ocean with his vast armies and claimed their lands for himself.In this situation would it be better to use a semi-colon instead of the comma? I am struggling because I am not entirely positive that they are two independent clauses. If I separate them with a period they do not seem to make as much sense.Apologies if this is a silly question. I am just trying to make sure I learn the rules as best as I can. Thanks!

Answer 1

You are correct that they are not two independent clauses. Even though the part after the comma (the second "a thousand years since") is long and has a verb, the subordinating conjunction "since" still makes it a dependent (or subordinate) clause, so a semi-colon would be incorrect.

In situations like this, the trick I use to make sure is to simplify the sentence while keeping its grammatical structure intact. What about: "It had been a day since the dog had eaten, a day since he had chased a cat." There's no need for a semi-colon there, right? If you really want one, then you should re-write the sentence to add the implied second "it had been." Like so:

"It had been a thousand years since the Razzies had X'ed; it had been a thousand years since he had Y'ed."

To over-extend this answer, the only time I would use a semi-colon without separating independent clauses is when I have a list of things that already have commas in them.

So:

My favorite movies are Love, Actually, I Love You, Man, and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.

Wow, what?!

But:

My favorite movies are Love, Actually; I Love You, Man; and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.

Oh, ok.

Answer 2

This is not a silly question! Comma splices can be very tricky.

Your intuition is correct that they are not two independent clauses. The second part of the sentence (after the comma) is just one long noun phrase, so this is not a comma splice. Therefore, I would keep the comma and not use a semicolon in this example. In general, if the clauses cannot be separated by a period, they should not be separated by a semicolon either.