Year2, S1

1. Fragment Sentences
Identifying Fragments and
Repairing Them

2. What is a Complete
Sentence?
 A complete sentence is an independent
clause
 A complete sentence contains:
 A subject (at least a noun)
 A verb (action)
 A complete thought
 Example:
 The smelly old dog (subject) ate (verb) my shoe.
(complete thought)

3. What is a Fragment
Sentence?
 A fragment sentence is an incomplete
sentence. One or more parts of the
complete sentence are missing.
 Fragments are PHRASES or
DEPENDENT CLAUSES

Phrase=group of words w/o subject and/or
verb

Dependent clause=has a verb and subject,
but cannot stand on its own, begins w/
dependent word

4. Sentence
 The parts of a complete sentence are
its building blocks.
 If blocks in the row are missing the
sentence can’t stand. It falls apart

5. Fragment Sentence
 A fragment sentence can’t stand on its
own.
 It’s like a baby learning to walk. It
needs an adult (independent clause) to
keep it from falling over.

6. Examples of Fragments
 A short course in history.
 What’s missing?
 A student sleeping in class.
 What’s missing?
 Because I had lost my keys.
 What’s missing?

7. Identifying Sentence
Fragments
First--Ask yourself
IS THERE A VERB?
NO
IT’S A
FRAGMENT
Next--Ask yourself
IS THERE A
SUBJECT?
YES
IT’S A
FRAGMENT
NO
YES

8. Identifying Sentence
Fragments
Next--Ask yourself
IS THERE A
WORD GROUP
THAT DOES NOT
HAVE A
COMPLETE
THOUGHT? (often
begins with because
or when)
YES
IT’S A
FRAGMENT
NO
IT’S A COMPLETE SENTENCE

9. Repairing Sentence
Fragments
 Two ways to repair fragment sentences
 Attach fragment to a nearby sentence
 Add missing words to the fragment to
make it into a complete sentence

10. Attaching
 Americans have come to fear the West
Nile virus. Because it is transmitted by
the common mosquito. (FRAGMENT)
 CORRECT: Americans have come to
fear the West Nile virus because it is
transmitted by the common mosquito.

11. Adding
 Running for the bus. (fragment)
 CORRECT: I twisted my ankle running
for the bus.

12. Examples of Fragments
 Folk singers in the 1960s.
 Missing predicate
 Folk singers in the 1960s recorded
many classic songs
 sentence

13. Examples of Fragments
 If you remember the words.
 Fragment
 If you remember the words, you should
sing along.
 sentence

14. Examples of Fragments
 Colonists in Indian costume. (missing a
predicate)
 Dumped chests of tea into the harbor.
(missing a subject)
 On December 16, 1773. (missing both)
 Colonists in Indian costume dumped
chests of tea into Boston Harbor on
December 16, 1773.

15. TRY IT!
Use CS or F to identify the word
group as a complete sentence, a
fragment, or a run-on sentence.
1. British soldiers marched toward
Concord, Massachusetts.

16. TRY IT!
Use CS or F to identify the word group as
a complete sentence, a fragment, or a
run-on sentence.
 The Minutemen from nearby
towns.

17. TRY IT!
Use CS or F to identify the word group as
a complete sentence, a fragment, or a
run-on sentence.
 Waited for the British in Lexington.

18. TRY IT!
Use CS or F to identify the word group as
a complete sentence, a fragment, or a
run-on sentence.
 Clashes in Lexington and Concord
started the American Revolution.

19. TRY IT!
Use CS or F to identify the word group as
a complete sentence, a fragment, or a
run-on sentence.
 Poorly trained and without
uniforms.

20. TRY IT!
Use CS or F to identify the word group as
a complete sentence, a fragment, or a
run-on sentence.
 A young officer, Nathan Hale.

21. TRY IT!
Use CS or F to identify the word group as
a complete sentence, a fragment, or a
run-on sentence.
 Hale was hanged by the British as
a spy he became a hero to the
Americans.

22. TRY IT!
Use CS or F to identify the word group as
a complete sentence, a fragment, or a
run-on sentence.
 France joined the war as an ally of
the Americans.