Writing Effective Sentences! Let’s look at what NOT to do: Fragments Run-on’s Stringy Sentences

Remember…a Complete Sentence Has These 3 Things: A subject A verb A complete thought

Believe it or not, some of our sentences are very scary! This may seem like common sense when we’re going over it, but… these mistakes are in many of your papers! Let’s get some help!

A fragment does not give the whole sentence…only part of a sentence. A fragment is a group of words that has been capitalized and punctuated as if it were a sentence, but is missing something. Your Def: Part of a sentence acting as whole sentence. Even though Daffy, Buggs, and Porky were all in a cartoon together. This is not a complete thought

Tell whether each word group is a sentence or a fragment My neighbor, the one with the dark and scary black house. Fragment The only time the old lady comes out of her creepy old house. Fragment Is at night when everyone is asleep. Fragment She’s a witch. Sentence This is when she brings out her secrets. Sentence

Run-on Sentences….A Bad Thing! What are they? Run-on’s Two complete sentences put together with no punctuation. Example: I enjoy the weekends I love hanging out with my friends. How can we fix this? Semicolon Comma & Conjunction Period and Make 2 Separate Sentences 3 Different Ways!!!

Period & Capital Letter: Example: I enjoy the weekends I love hanging out with my friends. Comma & Conjunction: I enjoy the weekends, and I love hanging out with my friends. Semicolon: I enjoy the weekends; I love hanging out with my friends. Period & Capital Letter: I enjoy the weekends. I love hanging out with my friends.

One of these sentences is a run-on! Can you find it? When we go out this weekend, we are going to see a movie. I love a scary movie, it is what we are going to watch. I love to eat popcorn while I am watching a good movie. It’s the 2nd one!!!

Why is this sentence wrong? I love a scary movie, it is what we are going to watch. Why is this sentence wrong? Why is it a run-on? A comma is separating 2 complete thoughts and that cannot happen, unless there is a conjunction with it! How could we fix it?

Fix the fragments and run-on sentences in this paragraph! The 1956 movie Godzilla about a huge reptile. Godzilla looks like a dinosaur he breathes fire like a dragon. He comes up out of the ocean. After an atomic bomb wakes him up. Godzilla can melt steel with his breath he is big enough to knock down huge buildings. In the original film he destroys the city of Tokyo he gets killed at the end.

Stringy Sentences…………………… They go on, and on, and on, and on! These sentences use commas and conjunctions, but there are too many complete thoughts in 1 sentence. Your def is underlined! If you read 1 of these, you might run out or breath.

EXAMPLE: Write this example on back of note sheet instead of on the line! Harriet Ross grew up as a slave in Maryland, and she worked on a plantation there, but in 1844 she married John Tubman, and he was a freed slave. How many complete sentences are within this big sentence? 4! How should we fix it? You could break the sentence into 2 or more sentences. You could turn some of the independent clauses into phrases or subordinate clauses. On your paper, revise this paragraph to make it clear.

Possible Revision: Harriet Ross grew up as a slave on a plantation in Maryland. In 1844 she married John Tubman, a freed slave.

The meaning of your sentence! Time to Play! Here are the Rules: Everyone gets a string I will read you a sentence (page 494, my text book) Every time you hear a conjunction, like “and” or “but” lightly wrap the string around a different finger. Just as your fingers are very tangled…what gets tangled when you write a stringy sentence? The meaning of your sentence!

How do you know when to use a semicolon and when to use a period? TOT’s are cookin’! Level 2 Candy! How do you know when to use a semicolon and when to use a period?

What’s the difference between a run-on and a stringy sentence? TOT’s are cookin’! Level 2 Candy or a Gumball! What’s the difference between a run-on and a stringy sentence?

TOT’s are cookin’! Level 1 Candy! What is a fragment?

The End!!!!!