Download DLA Recognizing Complete Sentences-ESL

Hartnell College
Writing Skills Activity Introduction: Recognizing Complete Sentences
Objective: At the end of this WSA, you will be able to:
1. identify complete sentences;
2. proofread and correct fragments and run-ons;
3. identify coordinators and subordinators.
I. Introduction (10 minutes): A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb.
The verb must indicate past, present, or future time. Clauses are the building
blocks of English sentences. Which of the following examples are clauses
(complete sentences), and which are fragments (not complete sentences)?
a. the city has a lot of parks
b. a student speaking on the telephone
c. a noise in the other room
d. dogs are barking across the street
Sentences can have one clause or two clauses or more. However, when a sentence
has more than one clause, a connecting word is needed. If there is no connecting
word, then the sentence with two clauses is called a run-on. Study the three
examples below. Identify the two clauses in each sentence. Which sentence is the
run-on?
a. I got lost in the city I did not have a map.
b. I got lost in the city because I did not have a map.
c. I did not have a map, so I got lost in the city.
Explanation: Sentence b uses a subordinator to connect the two clauses, while
sentence c uses a coordinator to connect the two clauses. Sentence a has two
clauses but no connecting word; therefore, sentence a is the run-on.
There are seven coordinators, such as “and” and even more subordinators, such as
“because”. If a sentence has a subordinator, it usually needs two clauses. In other
words, most sentences are incomplete with a subordinator and only one clause. When
a writer does not use enough connecting words, we say the writing sounds “choppy.” In
addition, incomplete sentences and run-on sentences can make writing harder to
understand, and will usually cause a teacher to give it a lower grade.
II. Additional Resources and Practice Exercises:
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/completesentence.htm
http://nedpc.net/resources/Sentences.pdf
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cgi-shl/quiz.pl/fragments_quiz.htm