Sentence fragment game8/25/2023 ![]() What about biking and swimming? Who is biking and swimming? Are you proposing that we all go biking and swimming? Add both a subject and a verb to correct this (again, not the only solution): Phrases which include words ending in -ing often appear as fragments:īiking and swimming after work on Thursday. Who was running late? The instructor? The train? The simplest (but by no means only) way to correct this fragment is to add a subject: Often the subject appears nearby, perhaps in the preceding sentence however, each sentence must have a subject of its own. (For help identifying subjects and verbs, see the TIP Sheet Parts of Sentences.) If you think a subject is missing, or the verb sounds a little strange, or the thought is left hanging, refer to the tips below. Does it sound complete? If you walked up to a stranger and said it to him, would it sound like a complete thought to him? Or would he be waiting expectantly for you to finish? Even if it sounds okay to you (because you already know what you mean), look at it and identify the subject (who or what did the action) and the verb (what the subject did) to make sure they're there. To begin to identify fragments in your writing, read a sentence aloud. But English conventions require that you avoid writing fragments (except in very rare instances), so you must be able to identify them in your writing and fix them. In fact, if you spoke in complete sentences for one entire day, you would probably get some strange looks. It fails to complete the thought it starts.įragments are no big deal in conversation spoken English is full of them.While there are many ways to end up with a fragment, almost every fragment is simply a result of one of the following three problems: A subject (that makes sense with the verbĪ sentence fragment is a group of words that lacks one or more of these three things.And Beth out.A sentence is a group of words that contains three things: You gotta have a subject andĪ verb, put 'em together, slap on a period, you've got a sentence. You're building sentences you have to make sure that what you've got is a subject and a predicate. Of the snowstorm, comma, we stayed home from school, period. ![]() Of the snowstorm, period, that wouldn't be a sentence. And if it were just we, period, that also wouldn't be a sentence. Home from school, period, that wouldn't be a sentence. So we've got this sentence here, this independent clause, right. Something could happen, but we don't know what that is, so, because of the snowstorm, Have, doesn't really have a subject or a verb. What we call, not even a, I mean it's not even aĭependent clause, right? It, this thing doesn't Why not? - Well youĭon't tell what happened because of that snowstorm. All right, what aboutīecause of the snowstorm? Is that a sentence, Beth? - Nope. Then you've got the part that finishes the thought, Got a part that names, that's your subject, and Or something performed by that noun our pronoun. Have to have something happen to that noun or pronoun, So you need to have a thing, like a noun, or a pronoun, and then you Order to be a sentence, you need to have both a Right, we're telling about something but we don't know what. To be a sentence either, that's also a fragment. Similarly, if we just had this predicate, and we just said it began ten years ago, oh, that's not enough Here, the whole story, and now we've given it a predicate. ![]() All right, so, the whole story began 10 years ago. Would call a predicate, in other words, so we're giving a subject, but we're not telling what Is the whole story missing? - Well we've got a subject but we don't have what we That cannot stand on its own, but nevertheless, incorrectlyĮnds with a period. The way I would put it, is that a fragment is a piece of a sentence So sentence fragments don't tell the whole story. Or it might include who but doesn't tell what happens. Maybe what happens, but doesn't include who, A sentence fragment is whenĪ student writes a sentence and they think it's a sentence, but it's one that tells So today weĪre going to talk about sentence fragments, andīeth you cover these in classes that you teach. Grammarians, David here along with my cousin Beth whoĪlso happens to be a teacher.
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