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

Solution 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.