Fragment, comma splice, and run on
sentences

FRAGMENT

Fragment means piece!
A sentence fragment is a group of words, only a
piece of a sentence, pretending to be a sentence…
A sentence needs 3 things:
•it must have a subject
•It must have a verb
•it must be a complete thought.

Take a look
• felt alone in the house
• She alone in the house
• Although he was alone in the
house

“dependent clauses with
subordinators”
• which,
• because,
• although,
• before,
• while,
• after,
• when,
• whereas
• whether,
• whenever,
• unless,
• since,
• until,
• by,
• as long as,
• even though,

• Unless love finds me.
• Whenever he leaves the house.
• If the world is monolingual.
• Even though she is Chinese.

“ing” and “to” fragments
Sometimes using a verb that ends in –ing or begins with “to”
can result in a fragment.
“He was still in the house. Trying to find his keys.”
•You can correct it by putting a comma after house and
making the capital letter a small one instead:
•“He was still in the house, trying to find his keys.”
•Or you can add a subject to the fragment:
•“He was still in the house. He was trying to find his
keys.”

• A “to” fragment is similar:
• “Juanita went to the store. To buy some
bignay wine.”
• The easiest way to fix it is to make it one
sentence:
• “Juanita went to the store to buy some
bignay wine.”

“added detail fragments”
An “added detail” fragment lacks a subject and a verb. They
often begin with a word like: also especially except
for example including such as
“My car has problems. Such as, a broken windshield.”
To fix it, you can add it to the previous sentence:
“My car has problems, such as, a broken
windshield.

“Missing subject fragments”
“My dog loves to stick out his tongue. And drool all over
the place.”
Way to fix this fragment:
• make it all one sentence by dropping the period and the
capital letter:
• “My dog loves to stick out his tongue and drools all
over the place.”

ACTIVITY

Run-On Sentences & Comma
Splices

• A sentence can be considered a RUN-ON
if it joins two independent clauses with a
comma or no punctuation at all.
• A run-on sentence that has two
independent clauses joined by a comma is
called a COMMA SPLICE.

Examples of sentences with
comma splices.
• My head hurts, I took some Advil.
• Jessa went to the market, she bought
some sweet potatoes.
• I went to the CED acquaintance party last
night, I need to sleep this morning.

Examples of run-on sentences
• We showed up late at school and the
teacher was mad, but she let us in
anyway.
• Alyssa picked up the new vampire
romance book from the library she read it
as soon as she got home.
• Gregorio likes basketball all he does is
watch basketball all the time.

How can one fix a run-on sentence?
• Join the two independent clauses with a
COORDINATOR.
For And Nor But Or Yet So
• The acronym FANBOYS is an easy way to
remember these words.
• Always be sure to put a comma before the
coordinator.

examples of run-on sentences joined
by a coordinator
• Maria needed to tell him the truth she
refused to speak a word.
• Corrected with a coordinator
• Mary needed to tell him the truth, but she
refused to speak a word.

examples of run-on sentences fixed
by using a subordinator
• Alex can play outside he has to finish his
dinner.
Alex can play outside, as long as he
finishes his dinner.
• Mikaela wasn’t paying attention the
teacher was looking right at her.
Mikaela wasn’t paying attention, even
though the teacher was looking right at
her.

Run-on sentences can be
separated by a semicolon.
Examples:
• Michael followed Alyssa into her room he
closed the door behind them Stefan had
run away Elena refused to follow him
Michael followed Alyssa into her room; he
closed the door behind them. Stefan had
run away; Elena refused to follow him.

run-on sentence can be broken up by a
period
• The milkman came earlier he left the milk
bottle on the porch.
The milkman came earlier. He left the milk
on the porch.
• I had to pick up my son from daycare he
was sick.
I had to pick up my son from daycare. He
was sick.

ACTIVITY

Individual Activity