Matakuliah
Tahun
Versi
: EDITING
: 2006
: 01/01
Week 4 :
“Editing Sentence Fragments “
1
Learning Outcomes
The students are expexted
to be able to use editing
system to find and correct
the mistakes in sentence
fragments.
2
Introduction
The students are expected to understand that:
 A sentence fragment tries its best to be a sentence,
but it just can’t make it. It’s missing something.
 Often, it’s missing a verb or part of a verb string:
John working extra hard on his hook shot lately.
 Here, for instance, we’re missing an auxiliary — has
been, in this case, probably — that would complete
the verb string and the sentence.
3
Incomplete Verb, Part Two
The students are expected to understand that:
 A sentence fragment tries its best to be a sentence,
but it just can’t make it. It’s missing something.
 Often, it’s missing a verb or part of a verb string:
Spending hours every day after school and even on
weekends.
 This time we’re missing a whole verb. “Spending” is
a participle wanting to modify something, but there
is no subject-verb relationship within the sentence.K
4
Editing Sentence Fragments
The students are expected to understand that:
 Sometimes a sentence fragment can give you a great
deal of information, but it’s still not a complete sentence.
After the coach encouraged him so much last year and
he seemed to improve with each passing game.
 Here we have a subject-verb relationship — in fact, we
have two of them — but the entire clause is subordinated
by the dependent word after. We have no independent
clause.
:
5
Editing Sentence Fragments
The students are expected to understand that:

Be alert for strings of prepositional phrases that never get
around to establishing a subject-verb relationship:
Immediately after the founding of the college and during
those early years as the predominant educational institution
in the American Midwest.

Again, be careful of sentences which give their share of
information but still don’t contain a subject and verb.
6
Editing Sentence Fragments
The students are expected to understand that:
If they still have problems identifying sentence
fragments and repairing them, it might be helpful to
review the material in the Guide to Grammar and
Writing on
CLAUSES
PHRASES
(and the types of sentences in)
SENTENCE VARIETY
7
Avoiding Sentence Fragments
Now you never again will have trouble
with sentence fragments!
8