![]() They can be useful-indeed, powerful-but in such writing they are effective only if used sparingly, in order to achieve a deliberate special effect: We will not give up fighting for this cause. And as a rule, sentence fragments are frowned upon in formal or expository writing. But they are not sentences in a strict grammatical sense. They would generally be regarded as sentences simply because they begin with a capital letter and end with a suitable punctuation mark. On the other hand, a run-on sentence contains two or more complete thoughts or independent clauses that are improperly joined without correct punctuation or conjunctions. For example, we might answer a question like “Where did you go?” with “To the store,” or “Why can’t I stay out till midnight?” with “Because I say so,” or “What are you doing?” with “Trying to fix this toaster,” instead of “I went to the store,” “You can't stay out that late because I say so,” or “I am trying to fix this toaster.” In written dialogue sentence fragments are perfectly acceptable. A sentence fragment is an incomplete thought or clause that lacks either a subject, a verb, or a complete idea, making it grammatically incomplete. ![]() In the case of commands, the subject need not be written because “you” is understood: Go home! means You go home! And exclamations clearly express excitement, alarm, anger, or the like with no need for either a subject or a verb: Wow! Gadzooks! Ouch! In everyday speech we routinely use phrases or clauses that would not make a complete sentence-so-called sentence fragments -because the conversation or the circumstances make the meaning clear. Even though it has a subject and a verb, it needs to be connected to something in order to complete the assertion: After he kicked the ball, he fell down or He fell down after he kicked the ball. ![]() After he kicked the ball is not a sentence instead it is a dependent clause ( see subordinate clause ). In general, assertions and questions-the overwhelming majority of sentences-require a subject and a verb, put together in a way that can stand alone, resulting in what is called an independent clause ( see main clause ): He kicked the ball is a sentence. It communicates a complete thought-an assertion, question, command, or exclamation. Ask your instructor.A sentence is the largest grammatical unit in language. Perhaps your final research paper in English Composition is not the place to experiment - or, then again, maybe it is. In a New York minute.Īs long as you are clearly in control of the situation, this is permissible, but the freedom to exercise this stylistic license depends on the circumstances. Harrison Ford has said he would be more than willing to take on another Indiana Jones project. There are occasions when a sentence fragment can be stylistically effective, exactly what you want and no more. A sentence fragment is a partial sentence that doesnt have a full thought. the more powerful speaker, he lost the case because he didn't understand the jury. We need an independent clause to follow up this dependent clause. This sentence fragment has a subject, he, and two verbs, had and was, but it cannot stand by itself because of the dependent word (subordinating conjunction) even though. It may even have a subject-verb relationship, but it has been subordinated to another idea by a dependent word and so cannot stand by itself: Even though he had the better arguments and was by far the more powerful speaker. Remember that an -ing verb form without an auxiliary form to accompany it can never be a verb. It may have most of the makings of a sentence but still be missing an important part of a verb string: Some of the students working in Professor Espinoza's laboratory last semester. It describes something, but there is no subject-verb relationship: Working far into the night in an effort to salvage her little boat.This is a verbal phrase that wants to modify something, the real subject of the sentence (about to come up), probably the she who was working so hard. This sentence accomplishes a great deal in terms of placing the reader in time and place, but there is no subject, no verb. It may locate something in time and place with a prepositional phrase or a series of such phrases, but it's still lacking a proper subject-verb relationship within an independent clause: In Japan, during the last war and just before the armistice. There are several reasons why a group of words may seem to act like a sentence but not have the wherewithal to make it as a complete thought. ![]() It does not contain even one independent clause. If your computer is equipped with PowerPoint, click on the PowerPoint icon to the right for a brief PowerPoint presentation on Sentence Fragments.Ī SENTENCE FRAGMENT fails to be a sentence in the sense that it cannot stand by itself. ![]()
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