Here are corrections to the fragments: 1. Her beautiful new sports car sat in the driveway. 2. The plate serves no purpose. 3. Which made driving hazardous in the snow. 4. a) The first mission to Pluto was launched in 2006 and will arrive in 2015. b) He made 5,000 songs available over the university’s server, which prompted the record companies to threaten legal action. 5. a) The first mission to Pluto, which was launched in 2006, will arrive in 2015. b) He made 5,000 songs available over the university’s server; this prompted the record companies to threaten legal action. 6. The Kenyon

1. A sentence is a fragment if it does not
express a complete thought.
At the very least, that means
it must have a noun and a verb.

2.  Listening to the music. (Who is listening ?)
 And drove to work in her new car. (We have no idea
who drove to work.)
Most fragments can be fixed one of two ways.
A subject can be added: Mark was listening to the
music.
The fragment can be combined with another sentence
that follows or precedes it: Angela locked the front
door and drove to work in her new car.

3.  The man with the heavy coat and big shoes. (Did
what?)
 The kitchen table. (What about the table?)
Adding a verb to the first example will make it a
complete sentence: The man with the heavy coat and
big shoes ran past the building and into the ally.
The second example can be incorporated with an idea
from another sentence:
The kitchen table was covered with all his favorite foods.

4. Other fragments are subordinate clauses. A subordinate
clause may sound like a sentence because it has a subject and a
verb, but it begins with a word that makes it subordinate.
These are some of the most common of these words:
after before so that until which
although even though than when while
as if that where who
because since unless whether why
Examples of subordinate clauses that are fragments:
• After they understood the problem.
• Because it was expected.
• So that drivers would be more careful.

5. Another kind of fragment is a phrase. These differ from
clauses because they are missing either a subject or a verb.
For example:
The English department is looking for a new teacher.
Preferably a writing teacher.
The phrase in black is a fragment that can be joined to the
sentence before it, separated by a comma.
Corrected:
The English department is looking for a new teacher,
preferably a writing teacher.

6. Sometimes an –ing form of a word (a gerund) can be a subject. For example:
Writing is an important skill.
This is a complete sentence because the word writing is the subject. It acts as a
noun in this sentence.
A fragment occurs when the –ing word is a part of an incomplete verb or when the
subject of the sentence is in the previous sentence. For example:
Langston Hughes has achieved great success. Writing poetry.
To correct this, just combine the two groups of words.
Langston Hughes has achieved great success writing poetry.

7. Other fragments may begin with an infinitive, which is to plus the base form of the
verb. For example:
Maya Angelou developed a resilient attitude. To overcome childhood traumas.
Here also the two sentences can simply be combined, or additional words may be
added for clarity. For example:
Maya Angelou developed a resilient attitude because she had to overcome
childhood traumas.
Some languages allow omission of a subject or even a verb. English does not,
except in the case of imperative sentences. These commands have an understood
subject of “you” For example:
Make your bed.
The understood subject is “you”; you are to make your bed.

8. Possible corrections:
Amanda walked into the mall, and she bought a pair of shoes.
Amanda walked into the mall and bought a pair of shoes.
Amanda walked into the mall ; she bought a pair of shoes.

9. Fragment Practice
1. No verb: Her beautiful new sports car.
2. No subject: Serves no purpose.
3. Begins with a subordinating word: Which made driving hazardous.
4. Connect to a related independent clause : a) The first mission to Pluto was
launched in 2006. Will arrive in 2015.
b) He made 5,000 songs available over the university’s server. Which prompted
the record companies to threaten legal action.
5. Convert the fragment to an independent clause: a) The first mission to Pluto was
launched in 2006. Will arrive in 2015
b)He made 5,000 sons available over the university’s server. Which prompted
the record companies to threaten legal action.
6. Prepositional phrase: The Kenyon College women won the NCAA Division title.
For the seventh consecutive year.
7. Verbal: The car ran out of gas. Stranding us in the middle of nowhere.
8. An appositive: In her acceptance speech, she thanked her biggest fan. Her
mother.
9. A compound predicate: Three authors are most commonly associated with the
beat movement. Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs.