When we’re writing and the words are flowing, it’s not uncommon to start smooshing sentences together that don’t actually go together. In our heads we pause, but not stop, so it feels like a comma belongs in that space.
And then we end up with a comma splice.
As you can probably guess from that intro, a comma splice is when we have two independent clauses or complete sentences separated by a comma that shouldn’t be there. This leads to awkward and run-on sentences, and drives poor copy editors crazy.
