Sentence Fragment

An LSCC Learning Center Self-Paced Tutorial

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Before We Begin…

We need to know what a sentence really is.

A sentence is an independent clause.

A sentence has a subject (the person or thing who does something) AND

A predicate (simple verb or verb phrase)

A complete sentence answers the question:

Who did what?

Before We Begin…

The subject is the actor.

The predicate is the action.

What is a Sentence Fragment?

There are four types of sentence fragment errors that most people commit:

1. No subject : Getting into the car

No one is doing this action!

2. No verb: James, without a ride to school

What is he doing about it?

What is a Sentence Fragment?

Only a phrase: Into the woods at night

Who did what?

Only a clause: While James sat on the couch,

What did he do?

Let’s learn how to fix them…..

Add a subject or verb

Added subject:

The new Florida governor was

getting into the car.Added predicate:

James, without a ride to school,

arrived so late he was counted absent.

Hints for Recognizing Fragments

Sometimes fragments seem to have a subject and verb. Watch out for:

An “ing” verb without a helping/auxiliary verb:

Allen, working on his homework (fragment)

To fix this fragment, add the helping verb:

Allen was working on his homework.

Hints for Recognizing Fragments

An “ing” verb without a helping/auxiliary verb may also be a gerund (a verb form used as a noun):

Getting up early in the morning (fragment) Getting up early in the morning is difficult for

many people. (sentence) Gerund phrase is the subject of the sentence.

Hints for Recognizing Fragments 2

Subordinating conjunctions “kill” independent clauses (sentences) and make them dependent.

A subordinate clause also leaves unanswered questions about the main idea of the sentence.

I was planning a trip to the beach. (sentence)

While I was planning a trip to the beach

(fragment) What happened then?

Let’s See What You Know

Fix these fragments:

In the corner of the room Jane working on the assignment After the rain began to fall Settling into the new job Sounds like a plan Before we go on to the next step

Answers:

The desk sat in the corner of the room. Jane is working on the assignment. After the rain began to fall, a rainbow appeared. Settling into the new job may take weeks. That sounds like a plan! Before we go on to the next step, we should

review what we already have covered.

So What Can I Do?

Review– Auxiliary verbs and how to use them– Subordinating conjunctions– Recognizing and diagramming subjects and

predicates– Test with the logical question “who did what?”– Get extra help at the Learning Center