Fragments & Run-on Sentences

“Fragments & Run-on Sentences” is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA by Susan Wood.

Part 1: Fragments

A fragment is a word group that is missing a subject or verb, or both, or can’t stand alone as a complete thought.

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Examples:

• Racing across the moon.
• While the cat is away.
• Always allowing us to stay out late.

Types of Fragments

• A fragment can be missing a verb or part of a verb string.

Example:

Fragment: The kids working on their project.

Corrected: The kids have been working on their project.

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• In the first example, we are missing the helping verb have been that is needed to complete the verb string and the sentence.

Types of fragments

• A fragment can be a word group that is missing its subject.

Example:

Fragment: Are working on their project.

Corrected: The kids have been working on their project.

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• In the first example, we are missing the subject of the sentence. Who is working? Adding The kids to the beginning of the fragment gives the sentence a subject.

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Types of fragments

• Sometimes a fragment can give a great deal of information but still not be a complete sentence.

Example:

Fragment: After the teacher helped her so much last year and she seemed to improve with each exam.

Corrected: After the teacher helped her so much last year and she seemed to improve with each exam.

• In the first example, we have a subject and a verb, but the entire sentence is made into a dependent clause by the word after. We have no independent clause. To make this an independent clause, we need to remove the subordinating word after.

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How do we fix fragments?

• One way is to join the fragmented word group to another sentence.

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Fragmented word group: While the cat is away. The mouse will play.

☑Corrected sentence: While the cat is away, the mouse will play.

How do we fix fragments?

• Another way is to make the fragment a complete sentence by adding or deleting words.

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Fragmented word group: John has a diverse taste in music. The Rolling Stones, Enya, and Maroon 5.

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☑Corrected sentence: John has a diverse taste in music. He likes the Rolling Stones, Enya, and Maroon 5.

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Part 2: Run-on sentences

A run-on sentence is a sentence in which two independent clauses have not been joined correctly.

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Examples:

• Our football team is really good we won the championship game.
• The dog chased the cat, the cat climbed the tree.

Types of Run-on sentences

• Fused sentence
• In a fused sentence, there is no punctuation between the two independent clauses.

Example:

Run-on sentence. The kids ran from their classroom to the cafeteria it was lunch time.

☑Corrected sentence: The kids ran from their classroom to the cafeteria. It was lunch time.

• In the example, the run-on sentence has two independent clauses with no punctuation. To fix it, we need to use appropriate punctuation to separate the two independent clauses.

Types of Run-on sentences

• Comma splice
• In a comma splice, there is only a comma joining the two independent clauses.

Example:

Run-on sentence. The kids ran from their classroom to the cafeteria, they ate their lunches.

☑Corrected sentence: The kids ran from their classroom to the cafeteria, and they ate their lunches.

• In the example, the run-on sentence has two independent clauses that are joined with just a comma. To fix it, we need to add a coordinating conjunction to the sentence.

How do we fix run-ons?

• One way is to make the run-on sentences into two separate sentences.

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Run-on sentence: The movie was really scary, my friend dropped her popcorn!

☑Corrected sentence: The movie was really scary. My friend dropped her popcorn!

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How do we fix run-ons?

• Another way is to join the two independent clauses with a semi-colon.

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Run-on sentence: Her microwave broke she got a new one.

☑Corrected sentence: Her microwave broke; she got a new one.

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How do we fix run-ons?

• Another way is to join the two independent clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction.

Run-on sentence: The baby dropped its pacifier she began to cry loudly.

☑Corrected sentence: The baby dropped its pacifier, so she began to cry loudly.

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How do we fix run-ons?

• A final way is to subordinate one of the two independent clauses to the other.

Run-on sentence: We didn’t trust her, she had lied before.

☑Corrected sentence: We didn’t trust her because she had lied before.

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