


#FRAGMENT EXAMPLES IN WRITING LICENSE#
In a New York minute.Īs long as you are clearly in control of the situation, this is permissible, but the freedom to exercise this stylistic license depends on the circumstances. Harrison Ford has said he would be more than willing to take on another Indiana Jones project. There are occasions when a sentence fragment can be stylistically effective, exactly what you want and no more. the more powerful speaker, he lost the case because he didn't understand the jury. We need an independent clause to follow up this dependent clause. This sentence fragment has a subject, he, and two verbs, had and was, but it cannot stand by itself because of the dependent word (subordinating conjunction) even though. It may even have a subject-verb relationship, but it has been subordinated to another idea by a dependent word and so cannot stand by itself: Even though he had the better arguments and was by far the more powerful speaker. Remember that an -ing verb form without an auxiliary form to accompany it can never be a verb. It may have most of the makings of a sentence but still be missing an important part of a verb string: Some of the students working in Professor Espinoza's laboratory last semester. It describes something, but there is no subject-verb relationship: Working far into the night in an effort to salvage her little boat.This is a verbal phrase that wants to modify something, the real subject of the sentence (about to come up), probably the she who was working so hard. This sentence accomplishes a great deal in terms of placing the reader in time and place, but there is no subject, no verb. My mother clips coupons to help her save money. If there’s no fragment, write C on the line.
#FRAGMENT EXAMPLES IN WRITING SERIES#
It may locate something in time and place with a prepositional phrase or a series of such phrases, but it's still lacking a proper subject-verb relationship within an independent clause: In Japan, during the last war and just before the armistice. 2) If there’s a fragment, correct it by combining it with the complete sentence and writing the corrected version on the line. There are several reasons why a group of words may seem to act like a sentence but not have the wherewithal to make it as a complete thought. It does not contain even one independent clause. I was done with the exam I put my pen and paper down and was waiting for the teacher to start collecting papers.If your computer is equipped with PowerPoint, click on the PowerPoint icon to the right for a brief PowerPoint presentation on Sentence Fragments.Ī SENTENCE FRAGMENT fails to be a sentence in the sense that it cannot stand by itself. Since I was done with the exam, I put my pen and paper down, waiting for the teacher to start collecting papers. We can join them either using a comma or a conjunction. Unattached phrases must be made part of a complete sentence. Waiting for the teacher to start collecting papers. Since I was done with the exam, I put my pen and paper down. The easiest way to count the number of clauses in a sentence is to count the number of verbs, then find their corresponding subjects. Since you drew the short straw, you must walk to the gas station while we stay here. I am upset that it is snowing in the middle of April. As the following examples illustrate, a sentence may consist of a single clause or may contain multiple clauses: One clause: In English, a clause is defined as a unit that contains both a verb and its subject. In order to understand how these errors occur, it is first necessary to define clauses in English. This happens to be my life nowadays.Īside from typographical errors, the two most common causes of fragments are the misuse of subordinators and the misuse of prepositions. Correct:Īfter the classes, I am going to the library. In the first sentence, introduce the subject and in the second add the main verb. There are many ways to correct the sentences above.
