Sentence Fragments

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Sentence Fragments

• Review in your text on pages 659-60

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Use sentence fragments only for special emphasis.

• A fragment is an incomplete sentence.
• A fragment may lack a subject or verb
• Or it may be only a dependent clause.

3
Test for sentence fragments

• By taking the group of words out of context.
• If the group of words cannot stand by itself as a
  complete thought, it is a fragment.

4
Revise sentence fragments

• By adding a subject
• Or verb
• Or by combining the fragment with the previous
  sentence.

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Fragment

• I still remember the championship basketball game
  when I scored forty points. Breaking the
  existing conference record.
• Breaking the existing conference record is not
  a complete sentence it cannot stand by itself
  as a complete thought.

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Revision

• I still remember the championship basketball game
  when I scored forty points. Breaking the
  existing conference record.
• Becomes
• I still remember the championship basketball game
  when I broke the existing conference record by
  scoring forty points.

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Or

• I still remember the championship basketball game
  when I scored forty points. Breaking the
  existing conference record.
• Becomes
• I still remember the championship basketball game
  when I scored forty points, breaking the existing
  conference record.

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Fragment

• At home I enjoy many water sports. Waterskiing
  and sailing, which are my two favorites.
• Waterskiing and sailing, which are my two
  favorites cannot stand by itself as a complete
  thought. Revise to make one complete sentence.

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Revision

• At home I enjoy many water sports. Waterskiing
  and sailing, which are my two favorites.
• Becomes
• At home I enjoy many water sports, but
  waterskiing and sailing are my favorites.

10
Revision

• At home I enjoy many water sports. Waterskiing
  and sailing, which are my two favorites.
• Becomes
• At home I enjoy my two favorite water sports
  waterskiing and sailing.

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Fragment

• She stood in line for four hours in the freezing
  rain. To get tickets for the rock concert.
• To get tickets for the rock concert is not a
  complete thought. Combine with the previous
  sentence.

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Revision

• She stood in line for four hours in the freezing
  rain. To get tickets for the rock concert.
• Becomes
• She stood in line for four hours in the freezing
  rain to get tickets for the rock concert.

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Revision

• She stood in line for four hours in the freezing
  rain. To get tickets for the rock concert.
• Becomes
• To get tickets for the rock concert, she stood in
  line for four hours in the freezing rain.

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Fragment

• After a tough class, I took a long shower, dried
  my hair, and put on my underwear. Then I walked
  into the living room. Because I thought no one
  was home. Was I surprised to discover my mother
  talking to Reverend Jones!

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• Because I thought no one was home cannot stand
  by itself as a complete thought. It is a
  dependent clause or a fragment.

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Revision

• After a tough class, I took a long shower, dried
  my hair, and put on my underwear. Because I
  thought no one was home, I walked into the living
  room. Was I surprised to discover my mother
  talking to Reverend Jones!

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For special emphasis, however

• Sentence fragments can be used sparingly.
• When the river was dammed almost all of these
  things were lost. Crowded outor drowned and
  buried under mud. --Edward Abbey

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• Head off? Decapitation cases are rather
  routinely handled. --Jessica Mitford
• When I finally did fall asleep, I had that same
  hideous nightmare in which a woodchuck is trying
  to claim my prize at a raffle. Despair. --Woody
  Allen.