Can someone tell me if this sentence contains a comma splice?

Question

My friend and I have been arguing about whether the construction of this sentence is correct. Here is the sentence in question:

I love all of those books, some would say too much.

He argued that this is a comma splice, as it technically reads, "I love all of those books, some would say [that I love them] too much."

However, I argued that it's correct, or at least widely accepted usage, since it's a more succinct way of saying, "I love all of those books—too much, some would say." The "some would say too much" is supposed to read as an "afterthought," if that makes sense.

In any case, (he and I both agreed) the em dash would work best here: "I love all of those books—some would say too much."

But is the comma case (the original sentence, bolded) incorrect? Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Your friend is correct. You are expressing two complete thoughts with their own subjects and predicates, which means you require two independent clauses. Semicolons and em dashes can connect two independent clauses in a single sentence, but commas cannot. It might be accepted in informal conversation, but it is unlikely to be accepted in formal writing.

I believe your argument is that "some would say too much" could read as an adverbial phrase that modifies the preceding clause as a whole. However, "too much" is already an adverbial phrase, and in the sentence as written, it would be read as modifying the clause "some would say," which already contains a subject ("some") and an implied predicate ("would say [that I love all of those books]").

Therefore, the only way this sentence would not contain a comma splice is if you wished to say that "Some [people] would say [too much/too often] that I love all of those books," which is clearly not the intended meaning. The sentence is ambiguous and should be rewritten.

Answer 2

I would suggest using a dash, colon or semicolon to make this sentence undeniably grammatical. I think that generally if something is borderline enough to be argued then it is worth addressing. I find "I love all of those books: some would say too much." to more closely represent the way this sentence is spoken and intended (plus the colon needs more love in modern English!).