Download 1. Sentence Fragments

1.
Sentence Fragments
A SENTENCE FRAGMENT fails to be a sentence in the sense that it cannot stand by itself. It does not
contain even one independent clause. There are several reasons why a group of words may seem to act like
a sentence but not have the wherewithal to make it as a complete thought.
It may locate something in time and place with a prepositional phrase or a series of
such phrases, but it's still lacking a proper subject-verb relationship within an
independent clause:
In Japan, during the last war and just before the armistice.
This sentence accomplishes a great deal in terms of placing the reader in time and place,
but there is no subject, no verb.
It describes something, but there is no subject-verb relationship:
Working far into the night in an effort to salvage her little boat.
This is a verbal phrase that wants to modify something, the real subject of the sentence
(about to come up), probably the she who was working so hard.
It may have most of the makings of a sentence but still be missing an important part
of a verb string:
Some of the students working in Professor Espinoza's laboratory last
semester.
Remember that an -ing verb form without an auxiliary form to accompany it can never be
a verb.
It may even have a subject-verb relationship, but it has been subordinated to
another idea by a dependent word and so cannot stand by itself:
Even though he had the better arguments and was by far the more
powerful speaker.
This sentence fragment has a subject, he, and two verbs, had and was, but it cannot stand
by itself because of the dependent word (subordinating conjunction) even though. We
need an independent clause to follow up this dependent clause: . . . the more powerful
speaker, he lost the case because he didn't understand the jury.
Stylistic Fragments
There are occasions when a sentence fragment can be stylistically effective, exactly what you want and no
more.
Harrison Ford has said he would be more than willing to take on another Indiana Jones
project. In a New York minute.
As long as you are clearly in control of the situation, this is permissible, but the freedom to exercise this
stylistic license depends on the circumstances. Perhaps your final research paper in English Composition is
not the place to experiment -- or, then again, maybe it is. Ask your instructor.
2. A RUN-ON SENTENCE (sometimes called a "fused sentence") has at least two parts, either one of
which can stand by itself (in other words, two independent clauses), but the two parts have been smooshed
together instead of being properly connected. Review, also, the section which describes Things That Can
Happen Between Two Independent Clauses.
It is important to realize that the length of a sentence really has nothing to do with whether a sentence is a
run-on or not; being a run-on is a structural flaw that can plague even a very short sentence:
The sun is high, put on some sunblock.
An extremely long sentence, on the other hand, might be a "run-off-at-the-mouth" sentence, but it can be
otherwise sound, structurally. Click here to see a 239-word sentence that is a perfectly fine sentence
(structurally)
When two independent clauses are connected by only a comma, they constitute a run-on sentence that is
called a comma-splice. The example just above (about the sunscreen) is a comma-splice. When you use a
comma to connect two independent clauses, it must be accompanied by a little conjunction (and, but, for,
nor, yet, or, so).
The sun is high, so put on some sunscreen.
Run-on sentences happen typically under the following circumstances*:
a.
When an independent clause gives an order or directive based on what was said in the prior
independent clause:
This next chapter has a lot of difficult information in it, you should start
studying right away.
(We could put a period where that comma is and start a new sentence. A semicolon might also
work there.)
b.
When two independent clauses are connected by a transitional expression (conjunctive
adverb) such as however, moreover, nevertheless.
Mr. Nguyen has sent his four children to ivy-league colleges, however, he has
sacrificed his health working day and night in that dusty bakery.
(Again, where that first comma appears, we could have used either a period — and started a new
sentence — or a semicolon.)
c.
When the second of two independent clauses contains a pronoun that connects it to the first
independent clause.
This computer doesn't make sense to me, it came without a manual.
(Although these two clauses are quite brief, and the ideas are closely related, this is a run-on
sentence. We need a period where that comma now stands.)
Most of those computers in the Learning Assistance Center are broken already,
this proves my point about American computer manufacturers.
Again, two nicely related clauses, incorrectly connected — a run-on. Use a period to cure this
sentence.
This list of situations in which run- on sentences are apt to happen can be found in Sentence Sense: A
Writer's Guide by Evelyn Farbman. Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Examples our own. See, also, the online
version of that text.
3. Subject/Verb agreement:
Basic Principle: Singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs. My brother is a
nutritionist. My sisters are mathematicians.
See the section on Plurals for additional help with subject-verb agreement.
The indefinite pronouns anyone, everyone, someone, no one, nobody are always singular and, therefore,
require singular verbs.


Everyone has done his or her homework.
Somebody has left her purse.
Some indefinite pronouns — such as all, some — are singular or plural depending on what they're referring
to. (Is the thing referred to countable or not?) Be careful choosing a verb to accompany such pronouns.


Some of the beads are missing.
Some of the water is gone.
On the other hand, there is one indefinite pronoun, none, that can be either singular or plural; it often
doesn't matter whether you use a singular or a plural verb — unless something else in the sentence
determines its number. (Writers generally think of none as meaning not any and will choose a plural verb,
as in "None of the engines are working," but when something else makes us regard none as meaning not
one, we want a singular verb, as in "None of the food is fresh.")
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

None of you claims responsibility for this incident?
None of you claim responsibility for this incident?
None of the students have done their homework. (In this last example, the word their precludes
the use of the singular verb.
Some indefinite pronouns are particularly troublesome Everyone and everybody (listed above, also)
certainly feel like more than one person and, therefore, students are sometimes tempted to use a plural verb
with them. They are always singular, though. Each is often followed by a prepositional phrase ending in a
plural word (Each of the cars), thus confusing the verb choice. Each, too, is always singular and requires a
singular verb.
Everyone has finished his or her homework.
You would always say, "Everybody is here." This means that the word is singular and nothing will change
that.
Each of the students is responsible for doing his or her work in the library.
Don't let the word "students" confuse you; the subject is each and each is always singular — Each is
responsible.
Phrases such as together with, as well as, and along with are not the same as and. The phrase introduced by
as well as or along with will modify the earlier word (mayor in this case), but it does not compound the
subjects (as the word and would do).


The mayor as well as his brothers is going to prison.
The mayor and his brothers are going to jail.
The pronouns neither and either are singular and require singular verbs even though they seem to be
referring, in a sense, to two things.
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
Neither of the two traffic lights is working.
Which shirt do you want for Christmas?
Either is fine with me.
In informal writing, neither and either sometimes take a plural verb when these pronouns are followed by a
prepositional phrase beginning with of. This is particularly true of interrogative constructions: "Have either
of you two clowns read the assignment?" "Are either of you taking this seriously?" Burchfield calls this "a
clash between notional and actual agreement."*
The conjunction or does not conjoin (as and does): when nor or or is used the subject closer to the verb
determines the number of the verb. Whether the subject comes before or after the verb doesn't matter; the
proximity determines the number.
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
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
Either my father or my brothers are going to sell the house.
Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house.
Are either my brothers or my father responsible?
Is either my father or my brothers responsible?
Because a sentence like "Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house" sounds peculiar, it is
probably a good idea to put the plural subject closer to the verb whenever that is possible.
The words there and here are never subjects.



There are two reasons [plural subject] for this.
There is no reason for this.
Here are two apples.
With these constructions (called expletive constructions), the subject follows the verb but still determines
the number of the verb.
Verbs in the present tense for third-person, singular subjects (he, she, it and anything those words can stand
for) have s-endings. Other verbs do not add s-endings.
He loves and she loves and they love_ and . . . .
Sometimes modifiers will get betwen a subject and its verb, but these modifiers must not confuse the
agreement between the subject and its verb.
The mayor, who has been convicted along with his four brothers on four counts of various crimes
but who also seems, like a cat, to have several political lives, is finally going to jail.
Sometimes nouns take weird forms and can fool us into thinking they're plural when they're really singular
and vice-versa. Consult the section on the Plural Forms of Nouns and the section on Collective Nouns for
additional help. Words such as glasses, pants, pliers, and scissors are regarded as plural (and require plural
verbs) unless they're preceded the phrase pair of (in which case the word pair becomes the subject).
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

My glasses were on the bed.
My pants were torn.
A pair of plaid trousers is in the closet.
Some words end in -s and appear to be plural but are really singular and require singular verbs.
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
The news from the front is bad.
Measles is a dangerous disease for pregnant women.
On the other hand, some words ending in -s refer to a single thing but are nonetheless plural and require a
plural verb.



My assets were wiped out in the depression.
The average worker's earnings have gone up dramatically.
Our thanks go to the workers who supported the union.
The names of sports teams that do not end in "s" will take a plural verb: the Miami Heat have been looking
… , The Connecticut Sun are hoping that new talent … . See the section on plurals for help with this
problem.
Fractional expressions such as half of, a part of, a percentage of, a majority of are sometimes singular and
sometimes plural, depending on the meaning. (The same is true, of course, when all, any, more, most and
some act as subjects.) Sums and products of mathematical processes are expressed as singular and require
singular verbs. The expression "more than one" (oddly enough) takes a singular verb: "More than one
student has tried this."
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Some of the voters are still angry.
A large percentage of the older population is voting against her.
Two-fifths of the troops were lost in the battle.
Two-fifths of the vineyard was destroyed by fire.
Forty percent of the students are in favor of changing the policy.
Forty percent of the student body is in favor of changing the policy.
Two and two is four.
Four times four divided by two is eight.
If your sentence compounds a positive and a negative subject and one is plural, the other singular, the verb
should agree with the positive subject.

The department members but not the chair have decided not to teach on Valentine's Day.


4.
It is not the faculty members but the president who decides this issue.
It was the speaker, not his ideas, that has provoked the students to riot.
Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Basic Principle: A pronoun usually refers to something earlier in the text (its antecedent) and must
agree in number — singular/plural — with the thing to which it refers.
The indefinite pronouns anyone, anybody, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, no one, and nobody
are always singular. This is sometimes perplexing to writers who feel that everyone and everybody
(especially) are referring to more than one person. The same is true of either and neither, which are always
singular even though they seem to be referring to two things.
The need for pronoun-antecedent agreement can create gender problems. If one were to write, for instance,
"A student must see his counselor before the end of the semester," when there are female students about,
nothing but grief will follow. One can pluralize, in this situation, to avoid the problem:


Students must see their counselor before the end of the semester.
Or, one could say
A student must see his or her counselor. . . .
Too many his's and her's eventually become annoying, however, and the reader becomes more aware of the
writer trying to be conscious of good form than he or she is of the matter at hand.
Trying to conform to the above rule (#2) can lead to a great deal of nonsense. It is widely regarded as being
correct (or correct enough), at the beginning of the twenty-first century, to say

Somebody has left their bag on the floor.
but many people would object its being written that way because somebody is singular and their is plural.
There is a great deal to be said, however, for using the word their as the gender-non-specific, singular
pronoun. In fact, it's been said already, and you can read all about it at the The University of Texas, where
a web-site has been dedicated to the use of their in this way in the writings of Jane Austen, William
Shakespeare, and other literary greats. At least it's nice to know you're not alone! Another site dedicated to
the "gender-free pronoun" is at Gender-Neutral Pronoun Frequently Asked Questions.
Remember that when we compound a pronoun with something else, we don't want to change its form.
Following this rule carefully often creates something that "doesn't sound good." You would write, "This
money is for me," so when someone else becomes involved, don't write, "This money is for Fred and I."
Try these:


This money is for him and me.
This arrangement is between Fred and him.
Those are both good sentences.
One of the most frequently asked questions about grammar is about choosing between the various forms of
the pronoun who: who, whose, whom, whoever, whomever. The number (singular or plural) of the pronoun
(and its accompanying verbs) is determined by what the pronoun refers to; it can refer to a singular person
or a group of people:
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
The person who hit my car should have to pay to fix the damages.
The people who have been standing in line the longest should get in first.
It might be useful to compare the forms of who to the forms of the pronouns he and they. Their forms are
similar:
Subject
Form
Possessive
Form
Object
Form
Singular
he
who
his
whose
him
whom
Plural
they
who
their
whose
them
whom
To choose correctly among the forms of who, re-phrase the sentence so you choose between he and him. If
you want him, write whom; if you want he, write who.
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Who do you think is responsible? (Do you think he is responsible?)
Whom shall we ask to the party? (Shall we ask him to the party?)
Give the box to whomever you please. (Give the box to him.)
Give the box to whoever seems to want it most. (He seems to want it most. [And then the clause
"whoever seems to want it most" is the object of the preposition "to."])
Whoever shows up first will win the prize. (He shows up first.)
The number of people who use "whom" and "who" wrongly is appalling. The problem is a
difficult one and it is complicated by the importance of tone, or taste. Take the common
expression, "Whom are you, anyways?" That is of course, strictly speaking, correct —
and yet how formal, how stilted! The usage to be preferred in ordinary speech and
writing is "Who are you, anyways?" "Whom" should be used in the nominative case only
when a note of dignity or austerity is desired. For example, if a writer is dealing with a
meeting of, say, the British Cabinet, it would be better to have the Premier greet a new
arrival, such as an under-secretary, with a "Whom are you, anyways?" rather than a
"Who are you, anyways?" — always granted that the Premier is sincerely unaware of the
man's identity. To address a person one knows by a "Whom are you?" is a mark either
of incredible lapse of memory or inexcusable arrogance. "How are you?" is a much
kindlier salutation.
James Thurber
Ladies' and Gentlemen's Guide to Modern English Usage
The only problem most writers have with whose is confusing it with who's, which looks like a possessive
but is really the contraction for who is. In the same way that we should not confuse his with he's (the
contraction for he is or he has), we should not confuse whose with who's.
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Who's that walking down the street?
Whose coat is this?
I don't care whose paper this is. It's brilliant!
Whose can be used to refer to inanimate objects as well as to people (although there is a kind of folk belief
that it should refer only to humans and other mammals): "I remember reading a book — whose title I can't
recall right now — about a boy and a basenji."
5. Consistency of Tense and Pronoun Reference
Tense Consistency
Remember that if you're writing in the present tense, don't shift to the past tense (or vice versa) unless you
have a good reason to do so. For instance, in the sentences below there is no reason to switch from the
present tense. This is especially true when writing papers about literature: wherever possible, stay in the
present tense.
In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, the
narrator is one of the few truly successful
characters in terms of moral development.
However, she was also seriously flawed in
some ways.
Repair Work In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, the
narrator is one of the few truly successful
characters in terms of moral development.
However, she is also seriously flawed in
some ways.
Confusion She intended to play for the team during
the upcoming season, but then she blows
out her knee. [Shifting to the present tense
this way would be common in casual
speech; it will not do, however, in writing.]
Repair Work She intended to play for the team during
the upcoming season, but then she blew out
her knee.
Confusion
Pronoun Reference
Remember that if you're referring to you, or we, or I, or one, try to remain consistently within the same
case.
One You should observe this carefully whenever you write.
The cases of nouns and pronouns are reviewed in a table.
In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, we find
the narrator to be one of the few successful
characters in terms of moral development.
However, even the narrator, you soon
realize, is seriously flawed. [We've shifted
from the first-person plural "we" (quite
common when writing about literature) to
the second-person, singular "you."]
Repair Work In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, we find
Confusion
the narrator to be one of the few successful
characters in terms of moral development.
However, even the narrator, we soon
realize, is seriously flawed.
Confusion People enjoy themselves immensely at
UConn women's basketball games. You
don't have to be an expert in basketball to
get caught up in the crowd's enthusiasm.
[In these sentences, we've gone from a
third-person, plural reference, "People," to
second-person "you."]
Repair Work [We could write, instead:] People enjoy
themselves immensely at UConn women's
basketball games. One doesn't have to be
an expert in basketball to get caught up in
the crowd's enthusiasm. [However, the
"one," after a while, is going to feel overly
formal, stuffy.]
Repair Work [Most writers would probably prefer this:]
People enjoy themselves immensely at
UConn women's basketball games. It isn't
necessary to be an expert in basketball to
get caught up in the crowd's enthusiasm.
6. Parallel Form
Most of the descriptions and examples in this section are taken from William Strunk's venerable Elements
of Style, which is maintained online by the Bartleby Project at Columbia University:
This principle, that of parallel construction, requires that expressions of similar content
and function should be outwardly similar. The likeness of form enables the reader to
recognize more readily the likeness of content and function. Familiar instances from the
Bible are the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the petitions of the Lord's Prayer.
Students should also visit the section on Sentence Variety, which has material on the repetition of
phrases and structures. Click HERE to visit a page containing the biblical passages mentioned above.
Also in this Guide is a definition of the idea of a college, a lovely example of parallel form. Students are
also familiar with Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which abounds with examples of parallel
form. Clicking on the title above will allow you to read this famous speech and view a brief "slide-show"
demonstration of the parallel structures within Lincoln's famous text. (The Library of Congress
maintains a site at which you can inspect two different drafts of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's own
handwriting.)
Unskillful writers often violate this principle, from a mistaken belief that they should constantly vary the
form of their expressions. It is true that in repeating a statement in order to emphasize it writers may have
need to vary its form. But apart from this, writers should follow carefully the principle of parallel
construction.
Faulty Parallelism
Corrected Version
Formerly, science was taught
by the textbook method, while
now the laboratory method is
employed.
Formerly, science was taught
by the textbook method; now it
is taught by the laboratory
method.
The left-hand version gives the impression that the writer is undecided or timid; he seems unable or afraid
to choose one form of expression and hold to it. The right-hand version shows that the writer has at least
made his choice and abided by it.
By this principle, an article or a preposition applying to all the members of a series must either be used only
before the first term or else be repeated before each term.
Faulty Parallelism
Corrected Version
The French, the Italians,
Spanish, and Portuguese
The French, the Italians, the
Spanish, and the Portuguese
In spring, summer, or in winter In spring, summer, or winter
(In spring, in summer, or in
winter)
Correlative expressions (both, and; not, but; not only, but also; either, or; first, second, third; and the like)
should be followed by the same grammatical construction. Many violations of this rule can be corrected by
rearranging the sentence.
Faulty Parallelism
Corrected Version
It was both a long ceremony
and very tedious.
The ceremony was both long
and tedious.
A time not for words, but
action
A time not for words, but for
action
Either you must grant his
request or incur his ill will.
You must either grant his
request or incur his ill will.
My objections are, first, the
injustice of the measure;
second, that it is
unconstitutional.
My objections are, first, that
the measure is unjust; second,
that it is unconstitutional.
When making comparisons, the things you compare should be couched in parallel structures whenever
that is possible and appropriate.
Faulty Parallelism
Corrected Version
My income is smaller than my
wife.
My income is smaller than my
wife's.
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal
sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of
socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
Winston Churchill