Avoiding Sentence Fragments
Making Sure Your
Sentences Are Complete
Chapter 5, pg 74
Talking in fragments


Many times, when we speak, we use
fragments.
However, when we write (unless we are
directly quoting a conversation), we
need to formalize the writing.
Complete Sentences
To be complete, a sentence must have



a subject
and
a verb
and
express a completed idea.
Note: It has a capital letter at the beginning and punctuation such
as a period, exclamation point or question mark at the end.
(= full stop)
Example:
•My homework is taking every waking hour.
Complete sentence!
INCLUDES
•Subject (My homework)
•Verb (is taking)
and
•Expresses a complete idea (I’m tired!)
So all you have to remember is:
A sentence is not complete or
correct, unless

It has a subject,

it has a verb,

and it expresses a
completed idea.
Fragment
A Fragment is piece of a sentence

can be missing a subject,
 can be missing a verb,
 or can fail to express a
completed idea.
Fragments
The architect to my office.
 No VERB: Doesn’t express the action
Brought the plans to my office.
 No SUBJECT: Doesn’t explain who or what
The architect brought.
 No COMPLETED IDEA. Brought what?
Understanding Fragments
(Exercise 2, pg 77)
Identify if the subject, verb, both, or if the
statement does not reflect a complete thought.
1. returned to the river
 No subject: Doesn’t explain who or what
2. a bird on the oak branch
 No verb: Doesn’t express the action
3. between the island and the main land
 Missing subject AND the verb
Correcting a Fragment
1.
Add the missing part(s)
OR
2.
Join the fragment to the sentence.
Phrases

A phrase is a group of words belonging
together but lacking one or more of the
three elements necessary for a
sentence.
Phrases





(pg 80)
Noun phrase – a noun with all of its modifiers
Prepositional phrase – a preposition+ its modifiers
Verb phrase – a main verb with its helping verbs/modifiers
Infinitive phrase – the word “to”+verb + other words
completing the phrase.
Participial Phrase – a present or past participle and the other
words that complete the phrase.
Gerund phrase – present participle and the other words that
complete the phrase
Common Fragment Types
APPOSITIVE PHRASE: Words that
explain or add extra information


I tried everything I could think of to get
an A. Such as bribing the professor.
I tried everything I could think of to get
an A, such as bribing the professor.
Correct
Common Fragment Types
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
 I hope to complete the requirements for
my major. By the end of next semester.

Correct
I hope to complete the requirements for
my major by the end of next semester.
Common Fragment Types
INCOMPLETE VERBS: past or present
participles without the helping verb
 The student sleeping in the back row.

The student was sleeping in the back
row.
Correct
Common Fragment Types
Dependent Clause:
Group of words that contains
a subject and verb but doesn’t express a complete
thought because of the beginning word.

I kept working on my essay. Although I was tired.

I kept working on my essay, although I was tired.
Correct
One Common Problem Area

It is OK for a subject to be a pronoun.
Example: I can’t decide what to do. It is a difficult
situation.



Subject: It
Verb: Is
Completed idea: a difficult situation
As long as there is a word that acts as subject (it) the
sentence fits the “subject/verb/completed idea”
formula.
How To Check for Fragments
Put the words “It is clear that …” in front of the
possible fragment. Does it make sense? If so, it’s a
complete sentence.
EXAMPLE:
It is difficult. Fragment or sentence?
It’s clear that it is difficult. (Makes sense, so not a
fragment.)
Because it is difficult. Fragment or sentence?
It’s clear that because it is difficult. (?? Doesn’t
make sense so is a fragment.)
Watch Out for a Common Trap!
Just because you write a lot of
words, you don’t necessarily have
a complete sentence.
Although I have tried many ways to get
an “A”, such as paying off the professor
and offering to carry her books to class
each day and assuring her that I love my
writing class more than life itself.
FRAGMENT! You haven’t finished the “although”
idea, so you haven’t finished your thought.
But you knew that, because you
remembered that…
…a sentence is not complete or correct,
unless
It has a subject;
• it has a verb,
• and it expresses a
completed idea.
•
Developing Paragraphs:
Illustration
Chapter 18, pg 320
Illustration


Examples
A method of developing an idea by
providing one or more instances of that
idea.



Clarify the idea
Make the idea more convincing
Make an abstract idea more concrete
Where can we find examples?





Personal experience/knowledge
Imagination
Interviews and surveys
Outside research
Look @ pg 322, read Exercise 1. What
kind of illustration is each?
What order should I put it in?




time-order if the example is a story
Spatial order (left to right, top to bottom)
Logical order
If no order seems necessary, put your
strongest example last.
Homework




Do the exercises and activities up to pg
327.
For your journal assignment, CHOOSE
one ASSIGNMENT from pgs 328-335.
Write a illustrative paragraph about one
of the topics suggested.
You will be graded on your illustration,
and use of our vocabulary words/
grammar that we have covered so far.