An e-mail ad contained the following sentence:
We know how important giving is to you, we're no different, we feel the same way.
Admittedly, advertising isn't always textbook writing, and it can be creative. However, this example feels and sounds wrong, even for advertising. This is an example of comma splice. The term comma splice refers to the use of commas to separate sections of a sentence that should be separated by periods or semi-colons. There are three independent clauses in the example, and no conjunction is used.
The best way to write the sentence is
We know how important giving is to you. We're no different; we feel the same way.
Three separate sentences would also be correct, but it would feel more choppy because of the short phrasing. When you write, check for complete sentences containing a subject and verb, and make sure that you don't join them with a comma. Punctuation is important for comprehension, comfort, and accuracy of a sentence. Period.
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