This document provides guidance on identifying and fixing sentence fragments. It discusses that sentence fragments are incomplete sentences that lack either a subject or verb. It provides examples of common types of fragments, such as subordinate clauses, prepositional phrases, and parts of compound predicates. The document recommends attaching fragments to nearby sentences or rewriting them as complete sentences. It directs the reader to specific pages in the document to find more information on identifying and correcting different kinds of sentence fragments.

1. Happy Sentence Structure Monday!!!
I hope you had a chance to review your own work and
make corrections in italics. I hope even more you have
brought those revisions with you.

2. Sentence Fragments
• A sentence fragment is a word group that
pretends to be a sentence. Sentence
fragments are easy to recognize when they
appear out of context:
• When the cat leaped onto the table.
• Running for the bus (verbal alert!!!).
• And immediately popped their flares and life
vests.

3. Sentence Fragments
• When fragments appear next to related
sentences, however, they are harder to spot.
• We had just sat down to dinner. When the cat
leaped onto the table.
• I tripped and twisted my ankle. Running for
the bus.
• The pilots ejected from the burning plane,
landing in the water not far from the ship. And
immediately popped their flares and lifevests.

4. Fixing Sentence Fragments
• Easy Peasy!!!
• Just pull the fragment into a nearby sentence.
• Rewrite the fragment as a complete sentence.
• Let’s look at pp 239-240

5. Vocabulary Alert I
• Fragmented subordinate clauses
• Fragmented phrases
• Other fragmented word groups
1. Parts of compound predicates
2. Lists
3. Examples introduced by “for example,” “in
addition,” or similar phrases

6. Vocabulary Alert II
• Prepositional phrases =a group of words made up
of a preposition, its object, and any of the
object's modifiers. They add meaning to the
nouns and verbs in a sentence.
• Verbal = a verb form that does not serve as a verb
in the sentence. Instead, it functions as a noun,
adjective, or adverb. Verbal phrase includes the
verbal plus its objects & modifiers,
• Appositives = words that rename nouns or
pronouns.

8. Attach fragmented subordinate
clauses or turn them into sentences.
• A subordinate clause is patterned like a
sentence, with both a subject and a verb, but
it begins with a word that marks it as
subordinate.
• The fact that it is subordinate makes the
clause a fragment. By definition, a subordinate
thought is not a complete thought, and all
sentences must have a SUBJECT and a VERB,
and EXPRESS A COMPLETE THOUGHT.

9. The fix – let’s look at p. 240 to see
words that signal subordinate clauses

10. Attach fragmented phrases or turn
them into sentences.
• Like subordinate clauses, phrases function
within sentences as adjectives (describe
nouns), adverbs (describe actions), or as
nouns. They cannot stand alone. They are
often prepositional or verbal phrases;
sometimes they are apposotives (words or
word groups that rename nouns or pronouns).
• Let’s look at p. 241

11. Other common fragment forms
• Parts of compound predicates (hint: use the
three-prong approach. Does it have a subject,
verb AND express a complete thought).
• Lists (often you can attach it to a nearby
sentence with a colon or a dash)
• Examples introduced by “for example,” “in
addition,” or similar expressions – generally
pretty easy to turn fragment into sentence.

12. Page 242
• Let’s look at p. 242 to see how easy it is to fix
these fragments.
• Want more practice?? Do Exercises G5-1 and
G5-2. I will happily go over these with you in
the additional support sessions.