Fragment Errors

If you have ever had a teacher write “frag. ” or “inc If you have ever had a teacher write “frag.” or “inc.” on one of your assignments, then you have committed a sentence fragment error.

The Basics What is a complete sentence? Hint: there are three components. A subject--the actor of the sentence; a noun (person, place, thing, or idea) A predicate—the verb (action or state-of-being word) A complete thought—the sentence can stand alone and make sense (it’s independent)

John waited. Subject Complete thought Predicate (independent clause) Who “waited”? Subject Usually it is easy to find the verb: find the action word or the state-of-being word. To find the subject ask yourself, “Who or what did the verb?” Complete thought (independent clause) Predicate

Wait, Mr. Ferguson, what’s a state-of-being verb? Most verbs express some action: To run To jump Some verbs are a little trickier because the action isn’t obvious: To sleep To dream State-of-being verbs are forms of the verb “to be.” They are devious because they change form:

To BE Present Tense Past Tense Future Tense Add ‘shall’ or ‘will’ First Person singular I am I was I will be Second Person Singular You are You were You will be Third Person Singular He/she/it is He/she/it was He/she/it will be First Person Plural We are We were We shall shall Second Person Plural Third Person Plural They are They were They will be

John waited. John waited for the bus all morning John waited. John waited for the bus all morning. John waited for the bus all morning in the rain last Tuesday. Wishing he’d brought his umbrella, John waited for the bus all morning in the rain last Tuesday. Wishing he’d brought his umbrella and dreaming of his nice warm bed, John waited for the bus all morning in the rain last Tuesday because his car was in the shop.

Sentence Fragments Incomplete sentences that lack a subject or a verb or a complete thought! The fragments that students have the most trouble with are dependent clauses. Dependent clauses look like complete sentences but they don’t express a complete thought. They are called dependent because that cannot stand on their own (just like some people you might know who are SO dependent!).

What did he do? What then? What should you do? Because his car was in the shop. What did he do? After the rain stops. What then? If you want to go with me. What should you do? Subordinators or subordinating conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions Subordinating conjunctions have three jobs: Join two sentences (or complete thoughts) together. Make one of the sentences dependent on the other for a complete thought). Indicate a logical relationship. If you can recognize the subordinating conjunctions you can solve 90% of your sentence fragment errors!

Subordinating Conjunctions once provided that rather than since so that than that though unless after although as because before even if even though if in order that until when whenever where whereas wherever whether while why

The last thing about subordinating conjunctions… they don’t have to be at the beginning of the sentence: Because his car was in the shop, John took the bus. The dependent clause and the independent clause can switch places: John took the bus because his car was in the shop.

So how do I fix a fragment? Remember the basics Subject Predicate (verb) Complete thought Scan the sentence for subordinating conjunctions If you find one, scan the whole chunk of the dependent clause (the subject and verb that go with the subordinator). Then make sure they’re attached to an independent clause. purred