Fragments, run-ons and comma splices, oh my!

1. Fragments, run-ons and comma splices, oh my! These are errors I have noticed in your writing. We must fix them!

2. You can’t identify a fragment or a run-on if you can’t identify the subject and verb of a sentence. • So let’s review: • Identify the SUBJECT and MAIN VERB: • “My friend Stephen and I used to do Pony parties together.” • “Mrs. Daniels, the owner of Diamond D, took advantage of the opportunity and readily dispatched a couple of ponies for birthday parties.” • “As we drove by the houses, I gazed into the windows, imagining what the families inside were like.”

3. On your own paper, try these: • Identify the SUBJECT and MAIN VERB: • “After what seemed like several years, we got to the movie theatre, where my mother went off to sit in the Parents and Lepers Section.” • “I bet that good-looking girl in your English class would love to go out with you.” • “As a mature adult, I feel an obligation to help the younger generation, just as the mother fish guards her unhatched eggs, keeping her lonely vigil day after day, never leaving her post, not even to go to the bathroom, until her tiny babies emerge and she is able, at last, to eat them.”

4. Problem 1: Fragments • A fragment is: • Any group of words that does not have both a subject and a verb • Paid no attention to his parents. • Walked from the park to my house. • A dependent clause, that has a subject and a verb, but is all by itself • After we finished the game. • Unless you tell me the truth. • If you carefully read a fragment, you will notice that it isn’t actually saying anything! It doesn’t make sense as a sentence! • Can be fixed by: • Adding a subject or a verb! Completing the sentence!

5. What are clauses? • Clauses like to impersonate complete sentences because they are a group of words that has their own subject and verb. But they LIE! They are not complete thoughts. • We call these DEPENDENT CLAUSES because they DEPEND on the rest of the sentence to stand alone. • An independent clause CAN stand alone as a sentence. • Example of a dependent clause: After we went to the movies. • Notice that it’s an incomplete thought. What happened after you went to the movies? • Independent clause: We got sick from the popcorn we ate. This CAN stand alone. • I can also put them both together: After we went to the movies, we got sick from the popcorn we ate.

6. Common words to signal clauses • After • Although • As • As if • Because • Before • Since • In order that • Than • Though • Unless • When • Whenever • Wherever • How • That • Whether • Who • Which • Why • Whom • Who • Whose • That

7. Independent vs. dependent • So, in order to have a complete sentence, I need either ONE independent clause OR I can have an independent and dependent clause(s). • I can NEVER just have a dependent clause.

8. Fragment or Sentence (Frag or S)? • Wept salty, warm tears after he died. • I went to the computer store to buy a laptop. • My dog felt happy to be home. • After the football game begins. • Loved her more every day, despite of it.

9. Answers • Frag • Sentence • Sentence • Frag • Frag • Now, fix the fragments to make them complete sentences.

10. Assignment • Complete exercises 29 and 30 on pp. 494-95 of your book. • Just write the corrected sentences on your paper in place of the fragments.

11. Problem 2: Run-ons One type of run-on is a FUSED SENTENCE: • Two (or more) independent clauses with no punctuation between them. • I went to the store I bought a bike it was blue. • I felt sad about Mom she lost her job and she worked so hard to do well there I knew that she would find a new job though. Can be fixed by: Adding a period or Adding a comma with a sensible conjunction or Creating separate sentences or Adding a semi-colon

12. Fixed • I went to the store, and I bought a bike. It was blue. • I felt sad about Mom; she lost her job. She worked so hard to do well there, but I knew that she would find a new job.

13. Remember the FANBOYS! • For • And • Nor • But • Or • Yet • So • We can use these puppies to join 2 independent clauses, so that we don’t have a run-on sentence. Choose the one that makes the most sense in that situation. They always require a comma before them.

14. Run-ons (continued) • Another type of run-on is a COMMA SPLICE: • Two independent clauses with a comma between them but no conjunction (and, but, etc.) • I was late to class today, I had a good excuse. • I didn’t know what to do, I felt as if I had lost all hope. • Can be fixed by: • Adding an appropriate conjunction or • Creating separate sentences or • Using a semi-colon instead of a comma (only if both parts of sentence are equally important)

15. Fixed • I was late to class today, but I had a good excuse. • I didn’t know what to do; I felt as if I had lost all hope.

16. Fused, comma splice, or happy, functional sentence (fused, CS, S)? • I went to the store and bought a sweet kitten. • I tried to talk to my older brother he was wiser than I am. • Jenny arrived just in time, she saved the day. • She didn’t think that I could do it, but I proved her wrong. • I felt horrible for her she had lost so much. • I was late to class today, I had a good excuse, though.

17. Let’s practice!  • I will put a fragment, fused sentence, or comma splice on the screen. • Write Frag, Fused, or CS on your paper. • Then, with your partner, write the sentence correctly! • You may add words to a fragment to make it a complete sentence. • If you label correctly, and your new sentence makes sense and is grammatically correct, your team gets 1 point!

18. 1 • Before the bell rings.

19. 2 • I asked her out, she said she’d love to see a movie.

20. 3 • I have a lot of brawn, I lift heavy things.

21. 4 • Ethan rode his bike to school it was quite tiring.

22. 5 • Nicole was so pugnacious, she always wanted to fight.

23. 6 • Left me all by myself.

24. 7 • Tristan fell down the stairs he broke his ankle.

25. 8 • Frodo made it to Mt. Doom the ring was destroyed.

26. 9 • Didn’t want to intrude.

27. 10 • Harry defeated Voldemort, Hogwarts was saved.

28. 11 • I read most of Twilight I decided that I’m not into vampires.

29. 12 • How Spongebob lived under the sea.

30. 13 • I wanted a unicorn my mom bought me one.

31. 14 • Unless you eat a shoe.

32. 15 • Grammar is cool, might not get me a date.

33. For each of the following, identify if the group of words is a FRAG (sentence fragment), FUSED (fused sentence), CS (Comma Splice), or SENT (complete sentence). Then re-write the group of words (if it is not a complete sentence) to form a complete, properly punctuated sentence. 1. Jumped into the ocean in her wedding gown. 2. Alexis walked her pet squirrel to school one day it was cute. 3. That the vending machine was out of Snickers. 4. Auston decided to roller blade to school, it snowed during the day. 5. Alyssa and her amazingly talented goldfish.