Sentence Fragments Identifying and Revising By Alfred Taylor 1www.booksbyalfredtaylor.com

Sentence Fragments A sentence must have three qualities in order to be a sentence. It must: 1) contain a subject 2) contain a verb 3) express a complete thought If a sentence lacks one of these qualities, it is a fragment.

Sentence Fragments Without fear or thought saved the girl. This is a fragment because it lacks a subject. John, without fear or thought, the girl. This is a fragment because it lacks a verb.

Sentence Fragments When John, without fear or thought saved the girl. This is a fragment because it is a dependent clause and does not express a complete thought.

Sentence Fragments A dependent clause is a group of words that can’t stand alone as an independent grammatical unit. It depends upon another part of the sentence to give it meaning. In the example of “When John without fear or thought saved the girl,” the word “When” is a subordinating word. It drains the meaning from the sentence.

Sentence Fragments A subordinating word removes the meaning from a sentence and changes it into a fragment. John, without fear or thought, saved the girl. Sentence When John, without fear or thought, saved the girl. Fragment.

Sentence Fragments Subordinating words include words such as: aftereven ifthatwhere althougheven thoughthoughwhereas asifunlesswhereever as ifonceuntilwhether becauserather thanwhenwhile beforesincewhenever

Sentence Fragments Fragments aren’t always easy to spot. They can clog up a good essay. Writers must be on guard to ensure that every sentence has a subject, a verb, and expresses a complete thought.

Sentence Fragments Which is a fragment? A) It’s me. B) John sitting under an old oak tree in the park by the lake on a sunny day drinking a cola and watching duckies and bunnies dancing and frolicking in the summer sun. C) John, like a little school-girl, cried.

Sentence Fragments The correct answer is “B.” John sitting under an old oak tree in the park by the lake on a sunny day drinking a cola and watching duckies and bunnies dancing and frolicking in the summer sun. This is a verbal phrase fragment. Sitting, drinking, watching, dancing, and frolicking are verbals, not verbs.

Sentence Fragments Verbals are words that look like verbs and smell like verbs, but they are not verbs. There are three types of verbals: present participle, past participle, and infinitive. Of the three types, it is the present participle that gives writers the most problems.

Sentence Fragments Present participles are words that end in “ing” like running, thinking, swearing, spitting, and cussing. This is the most difficult type of verbal to spot because they look so much like verbs. When a present participle is used as the subject of a sentence, it is called a gerund. The writer is taking a verb and forcing it to be a noun.

Sentence Fragments For example, take a verb like “play.” Change it to a present participle “playing.” Normally present participles are used as adjectives or even adverbs, but in some cases it can be used as a noun.

Sentence Fragments “The playing field was wet.” (adjective) “She was playing hard.” (adverb) “Playing is difficult today.” (noun) But it may not be used as a verb. “She playing hard.” (This is a fragment.)

Sentence Fragments Another type of verbal is the past participle. Past participles are the “ed” form of the verb; however, they are only past participles when used with a helping verb. Otherwise, the “ed” form is a past tense verb.* I walked. (walked is a past tense verb.) I had walked. (walked is a present participle.)

Sentence Fragments It would be difficult to create a fragment with a present participle, but I suppose it could be done. * I dislike the term helping verb because it is a misnomer. In the sentence, “I had worked” had is the actual verb while worked is the past participle.

Sentence Fragments An infinitive phrase is the word “to” plus a verb. To be, to run, to eat, to think, to type, and to go are all infinitive phrases. It is rare for a writer to create a fragment with an infinitive phrase, but it can be done. For example, “John to go home.” may seem like a clunky sentence, but it is actually a fragment. A correct version would be “John is to go home.”

Sentence Fragments To test if a word is a verb or a verbal, put I in front of it. If it forms a sentence, it is a verb. If it doesn’t, it’s a verbal. I worked. (sentence, past tense verb.) I working (fragment, present participle.) I to work (fragment, infinitive.)

Sentence Fragments Determining if a sentence is a fragment is the difficult part. Correcting the fragment is relatively easy. If a fragment is formed due to a subordinating word, either remove the subordinating word or attach the fragment to another sentence. John saved the girl. When she was in danger. John saved the girl. She was in danger. John saved the girl when she was in danger.

Sentence Fragments Deleting the subordinating word is the least desirable way to revise a sentence fragment because it is likely to produce two choppy sentences and make it difficult for the reader to perceive the connection between them.

Sentence Fragments If the sentence is a fragment because it lacks a subject or verb, insert the required word. John saving the girl. (fragment, no verb) John saved the girl. (corrected) John went to save the girl. (corrected).

Sentence Fragments If the fragment takes the form of a list, add the list to a sentence with a colon. John likes to travel. Venice, Florence, Canterbury, and Bath. (fragment) John likes to travel: Venice, Florence, Canterbury, and Bath. (corrected)

Sentence Fragments Sentence fragments are used in advertising, novels, and common speech, but they are not appropriate for college writing. Please do not use them in your essays.

Sentence Fragments The End