Avoiding sentence fragments pdf

Avoiding sentence fragments long beach city college. Fragments are incomplete sentences, which means they cannot stand. If your sentence has a subject without a verb, or a verb thats not connected to a subject, thats a red flag that you may have a sentence fragment on your hands. A complete sentence has minimally two parts, a subject and a verb. Fragments confuse readers because the lack of a subject, verb, or both makes your meaning incomplete and unclear.

A sentence fragment results when a group of words that is not a sentence is trying to pose as one. Learning about this problem is the first step in preventing it. Although sentence fragments appear in creative and informal writing, avoid them in academic and professional writing. Dependent clause cues and signals are also known as subordinating conjunctions. To correct it, just add the missing subject or verb to the sentence. Avoiding sentence fragments what is a sentence fragment. The fragments that most students have trouble with, however, are dependent clausesthey have a subject and a verb, so they look like complete sentences, but they dont express a complete thought. Combining clauses to avoid comma splices, runons, and. Avoiding fragments with dependent clauses the writing center.

So it does not meet the three requirements of a sentence. Mark the complete sentences with an s and the sentence fragments with an f. This fragment has a subject and a verb but does not make a complete thought meaning it cannot stand on its own. A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence because it lacks a subject, lacks a verb, or is a dependent. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Sentence structure fragments, runons, comma splices. Avoiding fragments, fused sentences, and comma splices. Complete sentences state complete thoughts and contain both a subject and a verb expressing an action done by or to that subject. In general, a sentence can consist of multiple combinations of independent and dependent clauses, and most often fragments happen when there is a dependent clause in it. A sentence fragment results when a group of words that is not a sentence is trying to pose as.

Student will be able to write complete sentences by avoiding sentence fragments. Sentence fragments and runon sentences lone star college. Remember that in order to be a sentence or complete thought or independent thought or independent clause, a group of words must. Avoiding sentence fragments kennesaw state university. Return to all guides the data are inconclusive the researchers will repeat their experiment. Such a phrase consisting of a subject and a verb with complete meaning is also called an independent clause. Use commas to prevent possible confusion or misreading. To avoid sentence fragments, make sure your sentence includes a complete idea using both a subject and a verb.

The following 4 points will explain how to avoid using sentence fragments in your writing. In formal writing, or if you are writing to impress someone, such as your english grammar instructor or your boss, you should avoid using sentence fragments. Fragments are not real sentences because they lack one or more of those three criteria. The data are inconclusive, the researchers will repeat the experiment. Sample sentences with explanations, practice activities with answer key p. Fragments strategies for avoiding sentence fragments p. Many writers use incomplete sentences, or fragments, here and there. They lack the clarity of complete sentences, and they sound less professional. March 2018 avoiding fragments, fused sentences, and. If youre interested in improving your writing further, check out my book by clicking the link. Combining clauses to avoid comma splices, runons, and fragments. Some fragments are incomplete because they lack either a subject or a verb, or both. Sentence, fragments, and runons sentencefragmentrunon.