1. Foolish Fragments and Ridiculous Run-Ons!

2. What is a complete sentence?
A SENTENCE is made up of one or more words that express a complete thought. A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with punctuation.
Good writers write with complete sentences!

3. What does a complete sentence need?
A sentence must have FOUR things:
It must begin with a capital letter.
It must end with punctuation– either a period (.), exclamation point (!), or question mark (?).
It must have a subject and a verb.
It must be a complete thought.

4. Capitalize! It must begin with a capital letter. Ex.
A bumblebee flew into Peter’s open mouth.

5. Proper Punctuation
It must end with punctuation– either a period (.), exclamation point (!), or question mark (?)
Ex:
A bumblebee flew into Peter’s open mouth.
A bumblebee flew into Peter’s open mouth!
Did a bumblebee just fly into Peter’s open mouth?

6. Subject and Verb It must have a subject and a verb
A subject is the “who” of a sentence.
A verb is the “what” of a sentence.
Ex:
A bumblebee (subject) flew (verb) into Peter’s open mouth.
Mrs. Bensley (subject) enjoys (verb) playing with her dog Lady.

7. Complete Thoughts It must be a complete thought. Ex:
When Peter opened his mouth. (INCOMPLETE THOUGHT)
When Peter opened his mouth, a bumblebee flew in. (COMPLETE THOUGHT)

8. Fragments and Run-On Sentence
Sometimes sentences can either be incomplete or too long.
Incomplete sentences are called sentence fragments.
Sentences that are too long are called run-on sentences.

9. Sentence Fragments
In order to make sure you do not have a sentence fragment, you should always look for the “who” and “what” of your sentence (the subject and verb!). If one is missing, you have a sentence fragment.

10. Sentence Fragments Examples:
Incorrect: Went to the store to buy brownie mix. (no subject!)
Correct: My dad went to the store to buy brownie mix. (subject added!)
Incorrect: Brownie mix at the store expensive. (no verb!)
Correct: Brownie mix at the store was expensive. (verb added!)

11. Run-On Sentences
A run-on sentence is one that rambles. It combines two or more sentences into one without proper punctuation.
There are two ways to correct a run-on sentence.
- Break it up into two complete sentences
- Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction

12. Run-On Sentences Example:
The grocery store was really packed with people there must have been a big sale today.
Correction: The grocery store was really packed with people. There must have been a big sale today.
^For this correction, I simply broke the run-on sentence into two complete sentences.

13. Run-On Sentences
The second way to correct a run-on sentence is by using a comma (,) followed by coordinating conjunction.
Coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
To remember coordinating conjunctions, just remember FANBOYS
(For, And, But, Or, Yet, So)

14. Examples
Run-On: The grocery store was really packed with people there must have been a big sale.
Correction: The grocery store was really packed with people, so there must have been a big sale.
Run On: I really wanted to go to the fair but I had a lot of homework.
Correction: I really wanted to go to the fair , but I had a lot of homework

15. Let’s practice!
Determine if the example sentences are complete sentences, run on sentences, or sentence fragments.

16. 1
Which was built in 1950
Sentence, fragment, or run-on?

17. 2 Needed the materials for the science project.
Sentence, fragment, or run-on?

18. 3 Bertha gave me a computer for my birthday last week.
Sentence, fragment, or run-on?

19. 4
I was talking on the phone for a couple of house last night I forgot to do my homework.
Sentence, fragment, or run-on?

20. 5 When we adopted the cutest puppy at the animal shelter.
Sentence, fragment, or run-on?

21. 6
The little boy’s toy car was yellow, his sister had a red and white toy truck.
Sentence, fragment, or run-on?

22. 7
Carlos is the team captain on the football team, and he plays defensive tackle.
Sentence, fragment, or run-on?

23. 8 Lifting the heavy boxes, I hurt my back.
Sentence, fragment, or run-on?

24. 9 After I dribbled the ball down the court.
Sentence, fragment, or run-on?

25. 10
She won the spelling contest and she will go to the regional level next month.
Sentence, fragment, or run-on?