GRAMMAR GREMLINS

 

Understand basic sentence structure and eliminate errors that bedevil your writing such as sentence fragments, run-

on sentences, and comma splices. Take the steps to develop a polished writing style that will help you get

through your courses. Facilitator: Julie Ewing

AFTER

attending the workshop

BEFOREattending

the workshop

The Tutoring & Learning Center Presents

What is…

•a sentence fragment?

What is…

•a sentence fragment?•a comma splice?

What is…

•a sentence fragment?•a comma splice?•a run-on sentence?

In order to answer those questions, we first need to answer a more important question:

What is a sentence?

A sentence is not merely a group of words with a capital letter at the beginning and a period or question mark at the end. A complete sentence has 

three components:

• a subject (the actor in the sentence) • a predicate (the verb or action), and • a complete thought (it can stand alone and make sense—it's independent). 

Example:

Subject Predicate

• Mary drove.This sentence has a subject (Mary) and 

a verb (drove), and it expresses a complete thought. We can understand the idea completely with just those two words, so again, it's independent—an independent clause. But independent clauses (i.e., complete sentences) can be expanded to contain a lot more information, like this:

• Mary drove from New York to Los Angeles.

• Mary drove from New York to Los Angeles last Tuesday.

• Mary drove her brand new, cherry-red convertible from New York to Los Angeles last Tuesday.

• Mary drove her brand new, cherry-red convertible from New York to Los Angeles last Tuesday because she had an audition for a part in the new Sylvester Stallone movie.

As 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 Mary drove—one main subject and one main verb. No matter how long or short the other sentence parts are, none of them can stand alone and make sense. 

Being able to find the main subject, the main verb, and the complete thought is the first trick to learn for identifying fragments, comma splices, and run-ons.

What is a sentence fragment?

A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence. It lacks a subject, a verb, or both. 

• Flying from New York to Los Angeles. (Who or what was flying?)

• Last Tuesday, the hottest day of the year. (What happened Tuesday?)

• In her brand new, cherry-red convertible. (Who and what did she do?

• A tired, filthy, rangy mutt. (What about the mutt?)

Fixing Sentence Fragments

Determine what is missing (noun, verb, both) and add it:

Flight 892 was flying from New York to Los Angeles.

The pilot who was flying from New York to Los Angeles has 25 years of flight experience.

Flying from New York to Los Angeles can be exhausting.

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. They're called "dependent" because they can't stand on their own :

• Because she had an audition for a part in the new Sylvester Stallone movie.

• As she accelerated faster and faster down the empty highway.

Combining Dependent and Independent Clauses

The original fragmented sentence:

Mary drove her brand new, cherry-red convertible from New York to Los Angeles. Because she had an audition for a part in the new Sylvester Stallone movie.

Combine the two clauses:

Mary drove her brand new, cherry-red convertible from New York to Los Angeles because she had an audition for a part in the new Sylvester Stallone movie.

Recognizing Sentence Fragments

If you have trouble seeing the sentence fragments in your writing, try this:

• Read your paper aloud, one sentence at a time.• Preface each sentence with the words “I think that.”

• If it doesn’t make sense, it’s a fragment and needs revision.

Which one works?

• (I think that) Mary drove her brand new, cherry-red convertible from New York to Los Angeles.

• (I think that) because she had an audition for a part in the new Sylvester Stallone movie.

Which of the following sentences are fragments?

Surfing the Internet now competes with watching television as our national pastime. People, it seems, have a natural ability to sit for hour upon hour. Passively watching images flit before their eyes. Whether these appear on a TV screen or a computer screen. Doesn’t seem to make much difference. What counts are the images themselves. Not where they come from.

The corrected version:

Surfing the Internet now competes with watching television as our national pastime. People, it seems, have a natural ability to sit for hour upon hour, passively watching images flit before their eyes. Whether these appear on a TV screen or a computer screen doesn’t seem to make much difference. What counts are the images themselves, not where they come from.

The “I think that” method

Works about 95% of the time.

However, it doesn’t work for:

• Questions  (I think that how are you?)• Commands (I think that sit down!)• Exclamations (I think that yippee!)

What is a comma splice?What is a run-on sentence?

Comma SpliceA comma splice is a sentence 

error in which the writer incorrectly connects two complete sentences with a comma:

• John didn’t bother to study for the exam, he was confident he knew the material.

Run-onA run-on is a sentence error in 

which the writer incorrectly connects (or fuses) two complete sentences with no punctuation:

• John didn’t bother to study for the exam he was confident he knew the material.

The “smart” errors

Students often create comma splices and run-ons because they instinctively realize that there is a relationship between the two ideas. Using a period doesn’t seem right:

John didn’t bother to study for the exam. He was confident he knew the material.

How to fix comma splices and run-ons

You have many options:

• Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction: (FANBOYS) (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)

John didn’t bother to study for the exam, for he was confident he knew the material.

•   Use a semicolon:

John didn’t bother to study for the exam; he was confident he knew the material.

• Use a subordinating conjunction to make one of the clauses dependent:(because, although, as, while, when, after, since, unless, if, etc.)

John didn’t bother to study for the exam because he was confident he knew the material.

•   Use a period to create two sentences:

John didn’t bother to study for the exam. He was confident he knew the material.

• Try to turn the two clauses into one clause:

John’s confidence in the material kept him from studying for the exam.

Recognizing comma splices and run-ons

Fixing comma splices and run-ons is pretty easy once you see them—but how do you find out if a sentence is a run-on if you aren't sure? You can test your sentences with two methods: 

• Turn them into yes/no questions. • Turn them into tag questions (sentences that end with a questioning phrase). 

Look at the following sentence: 

John didn’t bother to study for the exam.• If you turn it into a question that someone could answer with a yes or no, it looks like this: 

Did John bother to study for the exam?• If you turn it into a tag question, it looks like this: 

John didn’t bother to study for the exam, did he?

Now try it with the original run-on sentence:

John didn’t bother to study for the exam he was confident he knew the material.

The yes/no question can only be made with each separate thought, not the sentence as a whole: 

Did John bother to study for the exam? Was he confident he knew the material?

The tag question can also only be made with each separate thought, rather than the whole:

John didn’t bother to study for the exam, did he? He was confident he knew the material, wasn’t he?

Now that you know how to recognize and fix sentence fragments, comma splices, and run-ons, you can apply these tests and corrections to your own writing and never be plagued by these errors again!

Works Cited

“Fragments and Run-ons.” The Writing Center. Ed. Kimberly Abels. 8 August 2008. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 16 April 2009. <http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/fragments.html>.

Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004. 

“Sentence Fragments.” Guide to Grammar and Writing. 2004. Capital Community College Foundation. 16 April 2009. <http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/fragments.htm>.