Is this a run-on sentence?

RedString

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Feb 24, 2011
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My Grandpa, Charles Lacy, a hard-working man who has lived a tough life, has never lost his sense of humor and till this day continues to make friends and family laugh every chance he gets.

Yes, it sounds strange - but is it technically a run-on?
 

RedString

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Feb 24, 2011
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Yes, I do. I'm fairly sure this is not a run-on sentence since the punctuation and conjunction is used appropriately. Others are arguing with me on this so I'm just looking for a little more feedback.
 

maziwanka

Lifer
Jul 4, 2000
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haha. i love the haters. he asked a fucking question and you can respond without being an asshole
 

Bulk Beef

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Aug 14, 2001
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Yes, I do. I'm fairly sure this is not a run-on sentence since the punctuation and conjunction is used appropriately. Others are arguing with me on this so I'm just looking for a little more feedback.
Then you tell those ignorant motherfuckers that they have no fucking idea what a goddamn run-on sentence is they need to check themselves before they start checking someone else.

THAT'S a run-on sentence.
 

Perknose

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"..and to this day," no?

Doesn't have to be at all, but the OP does have to put the appropriate apostrophe on the colloquial contraction " 'till" or type out the full "until."

Yes, it sounds strange - but is it technically a run-on?

Not at all. It also doesn't sound strange to me. That must be because I read. ;)

Then you tell those ignorant motherfuckers that they have no fucking idea what a goddamn run-on sentence is they need to check themselves before they start checking someone else.

THAT'S a run-on sentence.

:biggrin:
 

Perknose

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It should be to this day not till this day.

Again, "' 'till " or "until" are absolutely fine here:

Definition of UNTIL

1
chiefly Scottish : to

2
&#8212;used as a function word to indicate continuance (as of an action or condition) to a specified time <stayed until morning>
 
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pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
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I'm not any sort of expert in English grammar. Not remotely.

FWIW I think the sentence is fine.


But I actually started off reading that sentence in one way, then realised it was the wrong way to read it when I got to the end of it unexpectedly early.

Would the following be a grammatically correct sentence?


My Grandpa, Charles Lacy, a hard-working man who has lived a tough life, has never lost his sense of humor and till this day continues to make friends and family laugh every chance he gets, just shot my Grandma.


Because this is how I interpreted the bit after the second comma, until the sentence ended before I was ready for it, requring me to re-read it to make sense of it.

In my version the "a hard-working man who has lived a tough life, has never lost his sense of humor and till this day continues to make friends and family laugh every chance he gets" is a subordinate clause, essentially an adjective, right?

How is one supposed to know how to interpret that bit before getting to the end of it? Is that an unavoidable ambiguity, or is there something wrong with my version?

I might just be talking rubbish, mind.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
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i am pretty sure this is a run-on sentence i have seen many such sentences in my time this is definately one of them.
 

Paladin3

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Mar 5, 2004
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I was considered the king of run-on sentences when I started writing articles for the newspaper where I was working as a photographer. An editor told me that when in doubt break the sentence up into shorter ones that are easier for the reader to digest.

Even if the sentence is grammatically correct, being clear and comfortable to read is more important.

EDIT: Might I respectfully suggest: "My Grandpa, Charles Lacy, is a hard-working man who has lived a tough life, but he never lost his sense of humor. To this day he continues to make friends and family laugh every chance he gets."

I'm not 100% sure that my version is 100% grammatically correct, but it is clear in what it means.
 
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cKGunslinger

Lifer
Nov 29, 1999
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Again, "' 'till " or "until" are absolutely fine here:

I capitulate.

But, my own personal bias seem to lend a slightly different meaning to 'till this day than to this day.

To seems to indicate that the preceding behavior continues on, while till suggests to me that it suddenly stopped this day. But everything I've read seems to indicate they are equivalent. :thumbsup:
 

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
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Yes, it sounds strange - but is it technically a run-on?

It's not a run-on sentence, but it's poorly structured and doesn't flow.

Try:

My Grandpa, Charles Lacy, a hard-working man who has lived a tough life, has never lost his sense of humor and till this day continues to make friends and family laugh every chance he gets.

Charles Lacy, my grandfather, was a hard-working man who lived a tough life yet never lost his sense of humor; to this day he continues to make both friends and family laugh every chance he gets.
 

Perknose

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I capitulate.

But, my own personal bias seem to lend a slightly different meaning to 'till this day than to this day.

To seems to indicate that the preceding behavior continues on, while till suggests to me that it suddenly stopped this day. But everything I've read seems to indicate they are equivalent. :thumbsup:

Heh, yeah, the bolded. Some confusion arises because both phrases, "to this day" and "until/'till this day," make a definite statement only about the past, up until (up to) this present day. So, there is a demarcation line.

However, no stopping at this demarcation line is implied by either. It's just that no continuance past this present moment is promised or forecast as well.

Up to now, this has been the grammatical case. Up until tonight, my previous sentence has held true. ;)

Yet what the future holds, for English grammar or the OP's uncle, is in both cases literally a moot point. :p