Happy Sentence Structure Monday!!!I hope you had a chance to review your own work and make corrections in italics. I hope even more you have brought those revisions with you.

Sentence Fragments

• A sentence fragment is a word group that pretends to be a sentence. Sentence fragments are easy to recognize when they appear out of context:

• When the cat leaped onto the table.• Running for the bus (verbal alert!!!).• And immediately popped their flares and life

vests.

Sentence Fragments

• When fragments appear next to related sentences, however, they are harder to spot.

• We had just sat down to dinner. When the cat leaped onto the table.

• I tripped and twisted my ankle. Running for the bus.

• The pilots ejected from the burning plane, landing in the water not far from the ship. And immediately popped their flares and lifevests.

Fixing Sentence Fragments

• Easy Peasy!!!• Just pull the fragment into a nearby sentence.• Rewrite the fragment as a complete sentence.

• Let’s look at pp 239-240

Vocabulary Alert I

• Fragmented subordinate clauses• Fragmented phrases• Other fragmented word groups1. Parts of compound predicates2. Lists3. Examples introduced by “for example,” “in

addition,” or similar phrases

Vocabulary Alert II

• Prepositional phrases =a group of words made up of a preposition, its object, and any of the object's modifiers. They add meaning to the nouns and verbs in a sentence.

• Verbal = a verb form that does not serve as a verb in the sentence. Instead, it functions as a noun, adjective, or adverb. Verbal phrase includes the verbal plus its objects & modifiers,

• Appositives = words that rename nouns or pronouns.

Attach fragmented subordinate clauses or turn them into sentences.

• A subordinate clause is patterned like a sentence, with both a subject and a verb, but it begins with a word that marks it as subordinate.

• The fact that it is subordinate makes the clause a fragment. By definition, a subordinate thought is not a complete thought, and all sentences must have a SUBJECT and a VERB, and EXPRESS A COMPLETE THOUGHT.

The fix – let’s look at p. 240 to see words that signal subordinate clauses

Attach fragmented phrases or turn them into sentences.

• Like subordinate clauses, phrases function within sentences as adjectives (describe nouns), adverbs (describe actions), or as nouns. They cannot stand alone. They are often prepositional or verbal phrases; sometimes they are apposotives (words or word groups that rename nouns or pronouns).

• Let’s look at p. 241

Other common fragment forms

• Parts of compound predicates (hint: use the three-prong approach. Does it have a subject, verb AND express a complete thought).

• Lists (often you can attach it to a nearby sentence with a colon or a dash)

• Examples introduced by “for example,” “in addition,” or similar expressions – generally pretty easy to turn fragment into sentence.

Page 242

• Let’s look at p. 242 to see how easy it is to fix these fragments.

• Want more practice?? Do Exercises G5-1 and G5-2. I will happily go over these with you in the additional support sessions.