Editor's Corner

Hi, folks.

Yesterday we talked about dependent clauses, independent clauses, and fragments. Today, I briefly want to explain a little more about fragments.

I mentioned that fragments are incorrectly punctuated as though they are complete sentences. Typically, fragments are missing a subject, a verb, or both. (Remember that the subject of a sentence is who or what the sentence is about, and the verb tells you what the subject is doing.) Following are some random examples of fragments:

· To go shopping.

· Lunch at 1:00?

· Excited about the party.

We can take those fragments and add subjects and verbs to make complete sentences:

· They want to go shopping.

· Should we eat lunch at 1:00?

· He is excited about the party.

By the way, sentences can have more than one verb. In the first bullet above, “to go” is also a verb; it’s an infinitive (the verb form that includes the word to). The entire verb phrase is “want to go.”

To avoid fragments, make sure all your sentences have a subject and at least one verb.

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

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