Is this sentence a comma splice?

[asdfguy]

I was reading The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and I noticed this sentence which I think it might a comma splice. Both are independent clauses and need a semi-colon or a full stop.

"It could have been left behind by the engineers who work this part of the track, they’re here often enough."

 

[Hotwired]

I take it the plot wasn't very interesting then.

 

[Caged]

GD tackling the big issues

 

[Marky]

What is this Book Club?

Sentence reads well to me...

 

[Boycey0211]

What an action packed bank holiday you are having.

 

[GeForce]

No, the clauses are not independent, since the second refers to 'they' (the engineers) in the first. That is a valid use of a comma.

 

[asim18]

It's not independent.

The missing item could belong to the engineers, because they're there often.

 

[G-MAN2004]

I'd say it is.

 

[Participant]

I'd have semi-colon'd that, but it's one of those that could reasonably be either. I want to know if the engineer referred to was chartered or just a technician. If they're leaving tools behind, I'm guessing the latter.

 

[bscott]

The clause 'they're here often enough' can stand on it's own as a sentence and that makes it an independent clause which makes the whole quote an example of a comma splice.

 

[Cosimo]

GD tackling the big issues

Grammar Nazism > Weather > Brexit > Terror.... ,

 

[rubberduck]

I would have thought the fact that they used a comma indicates that the two statements are not independent clauses in this case. They could well have been, in which case a semicolon would have been used.

 

[bscott]

I would have thought the fact that they used a comma indicates that the two statements are not independent clauses in this case. They could well have been, in which case a semicolon would have been used.

I think you are confusing semantics and grammar.