Fragments
A fragment is a broken off piece or a part of a sentence. When you
want to avoid fragments, watch out for the no verb fragment and the
misplaced period.
(1) No verb at all:
Jim, John and Jasper down by the movie house with everyone else.
(FRAGMENT) (Where is the verb that tells what Jim, John and Jasper are doing?)
Jim, John, and Jasper WAITED (verb) down by the movie house with everyone else. (SENTENCE)
(2) Verb forms -ing, -ed, or -en with no predicate:
-ing: The man driving down the main street. (FRAGMENT) (-ing
verb forms need a helping verb to become the predicate verb.)
The man WAS (helping verb) driving down the main street. (SENTENCE)
The man driving down the main street CRASHED (verb) into the
sign.
(SENTENCE)
-ed: Fred disturbed by the sudden noise of an explosion in the
street. (FRAGMENT) (-ed verb forms need a helping verb to become the
predicate verb
Fred WAS (verb) disturbed by the sudden noise of an explosion
in the street. (SENTENCE)
Fred, disturbed by the sudden noise of an explosion in the street, LOOKED
(verb) out the window. (SENTENCE)
-en: His ten-speed racer stolen by someone in the dorm with a
wire cutter. (FRAGMENT) (-en verb forms need a helping verb to become
the predicate verb.)
His ten-speed racer WAS (helping verb) stolen by someone in the
dorm with a wire cutter. (SENTENCE)
His ten-speed racer, stolen by someone in the dorm with a wire cutter,
WAS FOUND (verb) by the campus police. (SENTENCE)
(3) Verbs in subordinate clauses with no predicate verb in the main
clause:
The photograph of the three men who had climbed the top of the snow
covered hill. (FRAGMENT) (Where is the predicate verb that completes
the actions of the subject word 'photograph'?)
The photograph of the three men who had climbed the top of the snow
covered hill WAS PUBLISHED (verb) in the local paper. (SENTENCE)
Misplaced Period:
Sometimes a writer will interrupt a whole idea by putting a period in
the middle of the idea.
misplaced period
This school offers many majors in engineering. Such as electrical engineering,
industrial engineering, and chemical engineering.
period correctly placed
Purdue offers many majors in engineering, such as electrical engineering,
industrial engineering, and chemical engineering.
Sometimes subordinate clauses get separated from main clauses because
of a misplaced period. Subordinate conjunctions such as because, if,
although, when, after, since, until, etc., are used to begin subordinate
clauses.
misplaced period
I wasn't able to sleep all night. Because I was so worried about the
exam.
period correctly placed
I wasn't able to sleep all night because I was so worried about the
exam.
