sentence fragments

Sentence Fragments

Multiple Choice

Which is the complete subject?

Henry and Timothy are pilots.

• Henry

• pilots

• are

• Henry and Timothy?

Multiple Choice

Which is the simple subject?

The beautiful red roses smell lovely.

• beautiful

• roses

• smell

• The beautiful red roses

Multiple Choice

Which is the complete predicate?

Sam is trying to graduate early.

• is

• to graduate early

• is trying to graduate early

• graduate early

Multiple Choice

Which is the simple predicate (verb)?

Your understanding and patience helped me through difficult times.

• helped

• helped me through difficult times

• Your

• understanding and patience

A sentence has...

• subject (Miranda)

• predicate (enjoys skateboarding)

• and expresses a complete thought

A sentence fragments lacks a complete thought.

• Going to the concert with all of my friends.

• To become an engineer in the future.

• On a sunny day at the beach with his family.

Open Ended

A fragment is...

Many fragments start with a subordinating conjunction (while, when, unless, until, if, as, during, after, etc)

• WRONG/FRAGMENT: After the party. I fell asleep immediately.

• CORRECT: After the party, I fell asleep immediately.

Some fragments begin with relative pronouns (who, whom, which, whose)

• WRONG/FRAGMENT: I gave a ride to my friend. Who was walking in the snow.

• CORRECT: I gave a ride to my friend, who was walking in the snow.

Sometimes we make fragments by using partcipial phrases (-ing phrases)

• WRONG/FRAGMENT: Studying carefully. I learned a lot about poetry.

• CORRECT: Studying carefully, I learned a lot about poetry.

Sometimes people make fragments by starting with an infinitive (to +verb)

• WRONG/FRAGMENT: To graduate early. You must take summer classes.

• CORRECT: To graduate early, you must take summer classes.

Sometimes people make fragments by using a prepositional phrase (in, on, at, with, under, below, from, for, etc.)

• WRONG/FRAGMENT: From the deck of the ship. We saw the sparkling stars.

• CORRECT: From the deck of the ship, we saw the sparkling stars.

FRAGMENT OR CORRECT

• Driving down the road with my friends.

• The flowers in the garden.

• My dog, who barks all night.

• After graduation, Maria wants to move to L.A.

Multiple Choice

Traveling with my family.

• fragment

• complete sentence

Multiple Choice

Traveling with my family, going through the airport.

• fragment

• complete sentence

Multiple Choice

Traveling with my family in a busy airport.

• fragment

• complete sentence

Multiple Choice

I love traveling with my family.

• fragment

• complete sentence

Multiple Choice

To make the Honor Roll.

• fragment

• complete sentence

Multiple Choice

To make the Honor Roll, one must earn all As and Bs.

• fragment

• complete sentence

Multiple Choice

At the beach on a sunny day.

• fragment

• complete sentence

Multiple Choice

At the beach on a sunny day while the birds chirp.

• fragment

• complete sentence

Multiple Choice

Which is the fragment? Well, in looking at the picture at the left you see an old lady. She has a very funny look on her face. As if she's lonely and just wants to be left alone. She also looks as if she has seen a lot and experienced lots of things.

• Well, in looking at the picture at the left you see an old lady.

• She has a very funny look on her face.

• As if she's lonely and just wants to be left alone.

Multiple Choice

Which is the sentence fragment? I often wonder. While looking out my window. How far do birds travel to land here? Then, I think about the power it takes to fly an airplane and see how powerful birds must be.

• I often wonder.

• While looking out my window.

• How far do birds travel to land here?