Fragments are incomplete sentences. Every sentence must
contain a subject and a verb and at least one independent clause
that could stand alone as a sentence.
Verb Problems
The boy running fast. (There is no helping verb.)
The boy is running fast.
She seen the boys. (There is no helping verb.)
She has seen the boys.
The nice man in the car. (There is no verb at all.)
The nice man was in the car.
Subject Problems
Catches the ball. (There is no subject.)
Tom catches the ball.
Was studying hard. (There is no subject)
Yoshiko was studying hard.
In the evening was nice. ("In the evening" is a
prepositional phrase and can't be used as a subject.)
The evening was nice.
Dependent Clause Problems
Although he married her. (This is a dependent clause
and needs another half to be complete.)
Although he married her, he wanted to party with his
friends.
Because she is a good friend. (This is a dependent clause
and needs another half to be complete.
I asked her to go because she is a good
friend.
The woman who was holding a gun. ("Who was holding a gun"
is an adjective clause describing "woman." The subject
"woman" must have a verb.)
The woman who was holding a gun was an escaped
prisoner.
Phrase Problems
In the afternoon. (This is a prepositional phrase
only; there is no subject or verb.)
In the afternoon, I went to the library.
Running down the hall. (This is a participial phrase
only; there is no subject or verb.)
Running down the hall, the students passed the
principal.
or
She was running down the hall.
Comma splices occur where two complete sentences are
connected with a comma rather than having an ending punctuation
or a conjunction. Run-ons are similar to comma
splices, but they occur when two complete sentences are run
together with no punctuation.
Comma Splice
Susan is worried about the class, she studied for six
hours.
(This is two separate sentences.)
Run-on
He works hard he wants to get ahead.
(This is two separate sentences.)
1. Comma splices and run-ons can be corrected by
adding ending punctuation.
Susan is worried about the class. She
studied for six hours.
He works hard. He wants to get ahead.
2. Comma splices and run-ons can be corrected by
adding conjunctions (properly punctuated).
Coordinating Conjunctions
Susan is worried about
the class,
so she studied for six
hours.
He works hard,
for he wants to get
ahead.
Subordinating
Because Susan is
worried about the class, she studied for six hours.
He works hard
since
he wants to get ahead.
Conjunctive Adverb
Susan is worried about the class; therefore,
she studied for six hours.
He works hard; moreover, he wants to get
ahead.
3. Comma splices and run-ons can be corrected by
adding a semicolon without a conjunction.
Susan is worried about the
class;
she studied for six
hours.
He works hard;
he wants to get ahead.