Because this is a sentence fragment
July 1st 2009 17:31
Incomplete sentences, or sentence fragments, are relatively common in all sorts of writing, but they're also easy to avoid. The rule is simple: a complete sentence consists of two components--a subject and a predicate--in an independent clause. A subject tells the reader what the sentence is about; a predicate tells the reader about the subject, often an action that the subject performs.
Subjects and predicates
Consider the following sentence:
The boy is doing his homework.
The sentence is about the boy, so the subject is "boy"; the sentence tells you that he is doing homework, so the predicate is "doing his homework".
In the following examples, the subjects are underlined and the predicates are italicised:
The baby screams to be picked up.
There are three lemon berry muffins left on the counter.
You and I are the best of friends.
Once you understand subject and predicate, you can move on to discerning between dependent and independent clauses.
Dependent and independent clauses
In grammar, a group of words that contains a subject and predicate is called a clause. An independent clause expresses a complete thought, and a dependent clause does not express a complete thought. As a result, an independent clause can be a complete sentence, but a dependent clause cannot be one.
Consider the following example:
The muffins contain raspberries. Which I detest.
"The muffins contain raspberries" is an independent clause and "Which I detest" is dependent; therefore, "Which I detest" is a sentence fragment.
It was a horrid date. Because he ate noisily and made crude jokes during dinner.
"It was a horrid date" is an independent clause and "Because he ate noisily and made crude jokes during dinner" is dependent; therefore, the latter is a sentence fragment.
The sentences can be revised thus:
The muffins contain raspberries, which I detest.
It was a horrid date, because he ate noisily and made crude jokes during dinner.
You can also split them into two independent clauses:
The muffins contain raspberries. I detest them.
It was a horrid date: he ate noisily and made crude jokes during dinner.
There are two things to note here. First, conjunctive words such as "which" and "because" are clues that the clauses are dependent. Second, years of schooling may have drilled it into your head to not start sentences with conjunctions, i.e., words such as "and", "but", "so", "because" (more on conjunctions here). This 'rule' might have arisen from a hypercorrecting tendency to avoid sentence fragments such as the one illustrated above. It's best to eschew sentences that begin with conjunctions in formal writing.
Informally, there are many correct ways to start a complete sentence with a conjunction:
Because it was getting late, we skipped dessert and coffee and headed home.
But it started raining and we were drenched by the time we were back.
Subjects and predicates
Consider the following sentence:
The boy is doing his homework.
The sentence is about the boy, so the subject is "boy"; the sentence tells you that he is doing homework, so the predicate is "doing his homework".
In the following examples, the subjects are underlined and the predicates are italicised:
The baby screams to be picked up.
There are three lemon berry muffins left on the counter.
You and I are the best of friends.
Once you understand subject and predicate, you can move on to discerning between dependent and independent clauses.
Dependent and independent clauses
In grammar, a group of words that contains a subject and predicate is called a clause. An independent clause expresses a complete thought, and a dependent clause does not express a complete thought. As a result, an independent clause can be a complete sentence, but a dependent clause cannot be one.
Consider the following example:
The muffins contain raspberries. Which I detest.
"The muffins contain raspberries" is an independent clause and "Which I detest" is dependent; therefore, "Which I detest" is a sentence fragment.
It was a horrid date. Because he ate noisily and made crude jokes during dinner.
"It was a horrid date" is an independent clause and "Because he ate noisily and made crude jokes during dinner" is dependent; therefore, the latter is a sentence fragment.
The sentences can be revised thus:
The muffins contain raspberries, which I detest.
It was a horrid date, because he ate noisily and made crude jokes during dinner.
You can also split them into two independent clauses:
The muffins contain raspberries. I detest them.
It was a horrid date: he ate noisily and made crude jokes during dinner.
There are two things to note here. First, conjunctive words such as "which" and "because" are clues that the clauses are dependent. Second, years of schooling may have drilled it into your head to not start sentences with conjunctions, i.e., words such as "and", "but", "so", "because" (more on conjunctions here). This 'rule' might have arisen from a hypercorrecting tendency to avoid sentence fragments such as the one illustrated above. It's best to eschew sentences that begin with conjunctions in formal writing.
Informally, there are many correct ways to start a complete sentence with a conjunction:
Because it was getting late, we skipped dessert and coffee and headed home.
But it started raining and we were drenched by the time we were back.
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Comment by hazius
home with hazius
One thing I've noticed over the past few years is that for some reason people are substituting "it's" for "is"- or unnecessarily using an 'it.'
It used to be:
My business is a great little earner.
Now:
My business, it's a great earner.
It's as if we now start sentences with a title which is a question so the sentence must start with an upward inflection.
My grammar? - it sucks.
Instead of:
My grammar sucks.
Crap teachers in the public system, TV, hormones in chicken and the 5 second sound bite might have something to do with it.
Your article, I enjoyed it.
hazius
PS. Re: "It was a horrid date: he ate noisily and made crude jokes during dinner."
Should that be full colon or a semi-colon? I would have used ; but I'm not sure why . . .
Comment by Wilson Pon
Health 2 Know
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Comment by Irene
Grammar Matters
Cooking Monkey
I haven't noticed the strange use of "it's" that you mention, though probably I will now that I know about it.
I'm glad you brought up the colon/semicolon issue. When I wrote the sentence I thought of changing it to the semicolon, but stuck with the colon.
The semicolon links two related clauses; the colon is used when the second clause explains/amplifies the first. It seemed more correct to use the colon in this case.
Hi Wilson, thanks for your comments as always!
Comment by hazius
home with hazius
I'm glad to know it's not just me then. What made you decide to study it in more detail/start this post?
Re: the strange use of 'it's' - I failed to say that it was 'speech'/oral grammar - not 'written' grammar.
You hear it on the TV all the time now - and I really think it's due to people hearing the 5/10 second sound bite over and over again, and then gradually picking it up themselves.
- like the redundant American 'meet with' that is now sadly the norm.
Fox too, may have something to do with it, as they are substantially reducing the dictionary, just as Orwell prophesied it would be.
Their best one IMO is replacing "disembark" with "de-plane."
I couldn't believe it when I first heard it.
So and so is de-planing.
How long before vomiting is "de-eating?"
cheers
hazius
PS - As there can be a fuzzy line in the application of : or ;
what about the dash (-) ?
I use it a lot more than (semi) colons but in the same context I think - usually (chuckle) when I want to add another sentence to the the originating one.
Comment by Irene
Grammar Matters
Cooking Monkey
Your 'disembark' makes me think of 'dethaw'--ever hear that one? It's not the same thing, but some people use it to mean 'thaw'. Why do they add the prefix? Mystifying.
As for the dash, you're right--it is similar to how colons indicate a shift in thought without using a period and starting a new sentence. It's used--like this--parenthetically too.
Comment by hazius
home with hazius
Parenthetically - that's true!
I've never actually thought of it as that, but I use it all the time in a qualifying context - which distinguishes it from the colons.
. . . there you go, I've just learnt something!
enjoy your weekend
hazius