Sentence Fragments: See Strategies text p 534.
There are 3 kinds of Sent. Fragment
#1 A group of words with either no subject or no verb (predicate) E.g. The president lives in a big mansion. The White House. [a fragment because there is no verb here.]
#2 A group of words with no verb, but a verbal instead. E.g., John dribbling the basketball. [dribbling is not a verb. It needs a helping (auxiliary) verb such as “is”. “John is dribbling the basketball.” This is now a correct sentence.
#3 Another kind of sentence fragment occurs when you substitute a dependent clause (subordinate) for an independent or main clause (sentence). E.G. I read a copy of National Enquirer. While I was waiting in line. [The bolded words do not form a correct sentence, since the verb is contained within a dependent clause, introduced by the subordinate conjunction “while”.
Another example of type 3: Even though Vancouver is cloudy much of the year, no Canadian city is more beautiful when the sun shines. Which is one reason people continue to move there. [fix the fragment by simply putting a comma after ‘shines’, and placing the subordinate clause after the comma.
Now here is a practice test to see if you recognize fragments once they are part of a paragraph.
Identify and correct the ten sentence fragments in the following paragraphs.
Modern technology advances so quickly that even when you buy the latest, most up-to-the-minute gizmo, it’s obsolete. As soon as you get it home. Unfortunately for me and my bank account, it has taken me a long time. To learn this lesson. My first experience with technological obsolescence being when my parents replaced their record player with an eight-track cartridge player. Eight-track tape cartridges are small plastic cases. About the size of a cafeteria sandwich. Back in the 60s, cartridges provided the best audio experience available. In both quality and convenience. What happened to them? They are now sold as collectors’ items on eBay.
As a sound system, cartridges were pretty good. Why did they disappear? Music lovers want the latest technology, and new technologies exploded onto the market like fireworks. First came the audiocassette. Which dominated the market until it was replaced by the superior sound quality of the CD. CDs now giving way to the MP3, DVD, and other instant-access digital technologies. You may think you’ll be listening to your new iPod for the foreseeable future. If not forever. Think again. Remember the fate of the eight-track cartridge and the audiocassette. Not to mention the technology that preceded them and dominated the market for almost 50 years. Vinyl records.
Answers
Suggested Answer Solving Sentence-Fragment Problems
Modern technology advances so quickly that even when you buy the latest, most up-to-the-minute gizmo, it’s obsolete as soon as you get it home. Unfortunately for me and my bank account, it has taken me a long time to learn this lesson. My first experience with technological obsolescence occurred when my parents replaced their record player with an eight-track cartridge player. Eight-track tape cartridges are small plastic cases about the size of a cafeteria sandwich. Back in the 60s, cartridges provided the best audio experience available in both quality and convenience. What happened to them? They are now sold as collectors’ items on E-Bay.
As a sound system, cartridges were pretty good. Why did they disappear? Music lovers want the latest technology, and new technologies exploded onto the market like fireworks. First came the audiocassette, which dominated the market until it was replaced by the superior sound quality of the CD. CDs are now giving way to the MP3, DVD, and other instant-access digital technologies. You may think you’ll be listening to your new iPod for the foreseeable future, if not forever. Think again. Remember the fate of the eight-track cartridge and the audiocassette, not to mention the technology that preceded them and dominated the market for almost 50 years: vinyl records.
Group Assignment:
Give a written Brief Summary (150-200 words) and read it to class: Student 1
Detailed use of irony: What type? Verbal, Dramatic, or Situational? Explain and read to class in 150-200 words Student 2
