The Weltchek Weekly

Thank you for your business and support, we look forward to years of continued success and partnership.

No, that’s not my 2014 holiday greeting to you.

It was the copy on a pretty card I wanted to buy for my clients but couldn’t because of the comma splice. My credibility would have gone up the chimney.

A comma splice is what happens when you use a comma to connect—to splice—two complete sentences. It’s easy to fix, however. All you have to do is add a conjunction like and, as in, “Thank you for your business and support, and we look forward to years of continued partnership and success.”

That’s a mouthful of a thought, so I recommend turning it into two sentences. (Just now, had I written “That’s a mouthful of a thought, I recommend turning it into two sentences,” I would have committed a comma splice. I saved myself by inserting so, which—like and—acts as a conjunction to unite the two would-be sentences.)

The greeting on the pretty card would have been better had it read, “Thank you for your business and support. We look forward to years of continued partnership and success.”

I wish you all a grammatically correct season.