Sentence Fragments

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Sentence Fragments

• Identifying and Revising
• By
• Alfred Taylor

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Sentence Fragments

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

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Sentence Fragments

• Without fear or thought drank a Coke.
• This is a fragment because it lacks a subject.
• Spock, without fear or thought, a Coke.
• This is a fragment because it lacks a verb.
• When Spock, without fear or thought, drank a
  Coke.
• This is a fragment because it is a dependent
  clause and does not express a complete thought.

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Sentence Fragments

• A dependent clause is a clause that cannot
  stand alone as an independent grammatical unit.
  It depends upon another part of the sentence to
  give it meaning. In the example of When Spock,
  without fear or thought, drank a Coke. The word
  When is a subordinating word. It drains the
  meaning from the sentence. When Spock without
  fear or thought drank a Coke, what happened?

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Sentence Fragments

• So subordinating words change perfectly good
  sentences into dependent clauses or fragments.
• Spock, without fear or thought, drank a Coke.
• This is a sentence.
• When Spock, without fear or thought, drank a
  Coke.
• This is a dependent clause fragment, because it
  no longer has any meaning.

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Sentence Fragments

• Subordinating words include words such as
• after before until although
• if when as once
• where as if since whenever
• that because unless wherever
• while
• And Relative Pronouns such as
• that whatever who(m) whose
• what which whoever whomever

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Sentence Fragments

• Fragments arent always easy to spot. Like
  little monsters, they can creep into writing when
  they are least expected.

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Sentence Fragments

• Which sentence is a fragment?
• Its me.
• Spock sitting under an old oak tree, with an icy
  cold Pepsi in his hand, in the park by the lake
  on a sunny day with duckies and bunnies dancing
  and frolicking by the water.
• Spock, like a little school girl, cried.

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Sentence Fragments

• The correct answer is B.
• Spock sitting under an old oak tree, with an icy
  cold Pepsi in his hand, in the park by the lake
  on a sunny day with duckies and bunnies dancing
  and frolicking by the water.
• This is a verbal phrase fragment. Sitting,
  dancing and frolicking are verbals not verbs.

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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 of verbals, the present
  participle is the one that gives writers the most
  problems.

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Sentence Fragments

• Present participle verbals are words that end in
  ing like running, thinking, swearing, and
  laughing. This is the most difficult type of
  verbal to spot because it looks so much like a
  verb.
• When a present participle is used as the subject
  of a sentence, it is called a gerund. Basically,
  the writer is taking a verb and forcing it to be
  a noun.

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Sentence Fragments

• Take the verb 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.
• The playing field was wet. (adjective)
• She was playing hard. (adverb modifying was)
• Playing is difficult today. (noun or gerund)
• But it may not be used as a verb.
• She playing hard. (this is a fragment)

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Sentence Fragments

• Past Participles are the ed form of the verb
  however, they are only past participles when
  used with a helping verb. Otherwise the past
  participle is merely a past tense verb.
• I walked. Walked is a past tense verb.
• I had walked. Walked is a past participle with
  the helping verb had.
• It would be difficult to create a fragment with
  a past participle, but I suppose it could be done.

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• 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. The only way to spot a past
  participle is by its helping verb.

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Sentence Fragments

• A 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,
  but it is possible. For example Spock to go
  home. May seem like a clunky sentence, but it is
  actually a fragment. A correct version would be
  Spock is to go home.

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Sentence Fragments

• To test if a word is a verbal or a verb, put I
  in front of it. If it forms a sentence, then it
  is a verb. If it isnt a sentence then its a
  verbal.
• I worked (sentence, this is a past tense verb.)
• I working (fragment, this is a present
  participle.)
• I to work (fragment, this is an infinitive
  phrase.)
• In the case of past participles, the helping
  verb is actually the verb, so past participles
  dont create fragments in this manner.

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Sentence Fragments

• Determining if a sentence is a fragment is the
  difficult part, correcting fragments is
  relatively easy.
• If a fragment is formed due to a subordinating
  word, either remove the subordinating word or
  attach the fragment to an adjoining sentence.
• Spock drank a Pepsi. When he was thirsty.
  (fragment)
• Spock drank a Pepsi. He was thirsty.
  (corrected)
• Spock drank a Pepsi when he was thirsty.
  (corrected)

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Sentence Fragments

• Deleting the subordinating word or relative
  pronoun 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.

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Sentence Fragments

• If the sentence is a fragment because it lacks a
  subject or verb, insert the required word.
• Spock wanting to drink Pepsi. (verbal not a
  verb.)
• Spock wanted to drink Pepsi. (corrected)

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Sentence Fragments

• If the dependent clause takes the form of a
  list, add the list to an independent clause with
  a colon.
• Spock likes to travel. Venice, Florence,
  Canterbury, and Bath. (the list is a fragment)
• Spock likes to travel Venice, Florence,
  Canterbury, and Bath. (the list has been attached
  to the sentence, so it is no longer a fragment.)

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Sentence Fragments

• Sentence fragments are often used in
  advertising, fiction, and common speech, but they
  are not appropriate for college writing. Please
  do not use them in your papers.

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Sentence Fragments

• The End