![]() The fragments that most students have trouble with, however, are dependent clauses-they have a subject and a verb, so they look like complete sentences, but they don’t express a complete thought. Some fragments are incomplete because they lack either a subject or a verb, or both. Sentence fragmentsĪ sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence. No matter how long or short the other sentence parts are, none of them can stand alone and make sense.īeing able to find the main subject, the main verb, and the complete thought is the first trick to learn for identifying fragments and run-ons. ![]() Wishing they’d brought their umbrella and dreaming of their nice warm bed, they waited for the bus all morning in the rain last Tuesday, determined to make it to class for their test.Īs your sentences grow more complicated, it gets harder to spot and stay focused on the basic elements of a complete sentence, but if you look carefully at the examples above, you’ll see that the main thought is still that they waited-one main subject and one main verb. Wishing they’d brought their umbrella, they waited for the bus all morning in the rain last Tuesday. They waited for the bus all morning in the rain last Tuesday. But independent clauses (i.e., complete sentences) can be expanded to contain a lot more information, like this: We can understand the idea completely with just those two words, so again, it’s independent-an independent clause. This sentence has a subject (They) and a verb (waited), and it expresses a complete thought. Some sentences can be very short, with only two or three words expressing a complete thought, like this: a complete thought (it can stand alone and make sense-it’s independent).A complete sentence has three components: What is a complete sentence? A complete sentence is not merely a group of words with a capital letter at the beginning and a period or question mark at the end. The basicsīefore we get to the problems and how to fix them, let’s take a minute to review some information that is so basic you’ve probably forgotten it. It will help you locate and correct sentence fragments and run-ons. If instructors have ever returned your papers with “frag,” “S.F.,” “R.O.,” or “run-on” written in the margin, you may find this handout useful. Together we learned a lot.Fragments and Run-ons What this handout is about Being a friend of mine like he was when we first joined the soccer team. The small, one-story houses are all the same size and style. Tilting the pot way too much caused the boiling water to spill. With my brother standing by my side, I reached for the pot handle. My old rowboat with its three-horsepower motor seemed like a high-speed job to me. Although it only attained a speed of about twelve miles an hour. Until one of Joe's oldest and best friends had a little too much to drink. Jim ordered two dozen red roses for his wife. As Christmas grows near, I find myself looking back into my childhood days at fun-filled times of snowball fights. Not realizing at the time that we would never enter that door in her home again. She opened the door and let us into her home. To prove to himself and his parents that he is a man. In the seventh grade every young boy goes out for football. Although that is a value judgment and in circumstances not a true premise. ![]() The magazine has a reputation for a sophisticated, prestigious, and elite group of readers. Especially when you are on your first date, you feel that you should be in control. It can be really embarrassing to be so emotional. After this meal, they were ready for anything. A few of the less serious fellows would go into a bar for a steak dinner and a few glasses of beer. It was difficult to distinguish between them. Within each group, a wide range of features to choose from. Like other teachers in that department, he did not encourage students' questions. ![]() He talked for fifty minutes without taking his eyes off his notes. Such as the sun sending its brilliant rays to the earth and the leaves of various shades of red, yellow, and brown moving slowly in the wind. ![]() Could you tell these writers why the fragments are incomplete sentences? Act as their editor, marking a C if the sentences in the group are all complete and an F if any of the sentences in the group is a fragment. The sentences below appeared in papers written by students. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. ![]()
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