1. Avoiding Sentence Fragments

2. Complete Sentences oTo be complete, a sentence must do three things: o have a subject o have a verb o express a complete thought

3. Example: My homework is taking every waking hour. Complete sentence! INCLUDES a subject (My homework) a verb (is taking) and expresses a complete idea (I’m tired!)

4. So all you have to remember is: oA sentence is not complete or correct unless o it has a subject, o it has a verb, o and it expresses a complete thought.

5. Fragments My math homework. No VERB: This fragment doesn’t express an action. Taking every waking hour. No SUBJECT: This fragment doesn’t explain who or what. Because of this, what? This fragment doesn’t complete the idea. Because my math homework is taking every waking hour.

6. Common Fragment Types APPOSITIVE PHRASE: words that identify or rename a noun oI tried everything I could think of to get an A. Such as bribing the professor. oI tried everything I could think of to get an A, such as bribing the professor. FRAGMENT Correct

7. Common Fragment Types PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE oI hope to complete the requirements for my major. By the end of next semester. oI hope to complete the requirements for my major by the end of next semester. FRAGMENT Correct

8. Common Fragment Types INCOMPLETE VERB: past or present participle without the helping verb oThe student sleeping in the back row. oThe student was sleeping in the back row. FRAGMENT Correct

9. Common Fragment Types Dependent Clause: Group of words that contains a subject and verb but starts with a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun and so doesn’t express a complete thought. oI kept working on my essay. Although I was tired. oI kept working on my essay although I was tired. FRAGMENT Correct

10. Watch out for a common trap! Even if you write a lot of words, you don’t necessarily write 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.

11. But you knew that because you remember that… …a sentence is not complete or correct unless oit has a subject, oit has a verb, oand it expresses a complete thought.

12. To review sentence fragments, see Chapter 15.