Exercises: Identifying Fragments and Run-on Sentences (Writing Errors)

Fragment — ‘On…’ begins a prepositional phrase because ‘on’ is a preposition. This phrase needs to end with a comma, and then a subject and verb should be added. E.g. “On Tuesday morning last week at 8:30 a.m, I drank some milk.”

Complete Sentence — This sentence has everything it needs. It has a subject (I), a verb (ate), and an object (breakfast).

Fragment — This sentence is a dependent (subordinate) clause. The phrase Even though is a subordinate conjunction. To fix this fragment, you need to add an independent clause. E.g. “Even though you have lived in another country, there are still many things you haven’t learned.”

Fragment — This is a dependent (subordinate) clause. The sentence is missing a main (independent) clause. E.g. This webpage will help you avoid errors, which is important for success in college.

Complete Sentence — This is a simple sentence. It has everything a sentence needs — a subject (the pronoun This), a verb (is), and a complement (important for success in college).

Complete sentence — This is a simple sentence. “Finding someone to design your company’s website” is the subject of the sentence.

Fragment — The sentence has a subject (“The way that people learn new skills in this modern world“), but it is missing a verb.

Run-On — There are two sentences here. “I ate breakfast.” and “My sister did too.” To connect these independent clauses, you need a conjunction like “and”.

Fragment — This is a long subject. You need to add a verb after the subject and then finish the sentence. E.g. Getting up early in the morning before everyone else does isn’t fun.

Complete sentence — This is a complex sentence. The phrase “who live in glass houses” is an adjective clause and subordinate clause. The main (independent) clause is “People shouldn’t throw stones.”

Fragment — This is a subordinate clause (“If …..”). The sentence needs a comma, and then a main (independent) clause. E.g. “If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands.”

Fragment — This is a dependent/subordinate clause. You need to add an independent/main clause, such as “By the time she was 20 years old, she had lived in five countries.”

Run-on — This should be two sentences. “People can do whatever they want. It’s up to them.”

Run-on — This should be two sentences. The word ‘then’ is an adverb; it cannot join two independent clauses.

Complete sentence — This sentence has a long subject (“The main reason…..immediately“) but the subject is followed by a verb (is). This makes it complete.

Fragment — The word ‘although’ begins a subordinate/dependent clause. Anytime you want to use ‘although’ (or other subordinate conjunctions), you need to have a subordinate clause and an independent clause in the sentence. If you want to only use one clause, you can use ‘However, he was not successful‘ because the word ‘however’ is not a conjunction (it is an adverb).

Fragment — This is a fragment. The sentence is incomplete. It is either missing a subject (“People were placed…”) or a main clause that comes afterward.

Run-on (Comma splice) — The word ‘therefore’ is not a conjunction. This means it cannot join two clauses.

Complete sentence — Here we have two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS). This is a compound sentence.

Complete sentence — This is a complete sentence. The colon at the end of the independent clause (‘Please bring the following to the event‘) is used to introduce a list. This is a correct way to use a colon.

Complete sentence — After an independent clause or complete sentence, a colon can be used to introduce another sentence.

Run-on (Comma splice) You cannot put a comma between two independent clauses. You either need to use a period after the first independent clause, or join the two independent clauses with a conjunction.

Complete Sentence — A semi-colon functions like a period. Here we have two independent clauses joined by a semi-colon, which is correct.

Run-on (Comma splice) — There are three clauses here. The first clause is a subordinate clause, and the last two are independent clauses. The last two independent clauses cannot be joined by a comma. A conjunction is needed or a period.