Maybe he told her everything, maybe he'd been watching me all this time.
Is this considered a comma splice? Why or why not?
Answer
"Comma splice" isn't a term with a strict definition. Generally, people use the term when they think a pair of independent clauses that are joined without a coordinator would be better written as separate sentences. In other words, they call this sort of thing a "comma splice" if they consider it an error.
Sentences can sometimes be joined without an explicit coordinator like and or or. Writers tend to do this when they're closely related in meaning or structure. For example:
I came, I saw, I conquered.
Although this has no explicit coordinator, this famous example has nonetheless been written as a single sentence. All three clauses are similar in structure and are related in meaning. It works.
When it works, people tend to call it asyndeton.
When it doesn't work, they tend to call it a comma splice.
But that's more of a judgment call than anything, because there's no strict technical definition that separates one from the other.
Maybe he told her everything, maybe he'd been watching me all this time.
I'd call it the asyndetic coordination of two clauses that are similar in structure and related in meaning. It seems fine to me the way it is. (I can't guarantee that an English teacher wouldn't mark it with a red pen, though.)
No comments:
Post a Comment