A sentence is a fragment if it does not express a complete thought.

At the very least, that means it must have a noun and a verb.

y Listening to the music. (Who is listening ?) y And drove to work in her new car. (We have no idea

who drove to work.) Most fragments can be fixed one of two ways. A subject can be added: Mark was listening to the music. The fragment can be combined with another sentence that follows or precedes it: Angela locked the front door and drove to work in her new car.

y The man with the heavy coat and big shoes. (Did

what?) y The kitchen table. (What about the table?) Adding a verb to the first example will make it a complete sentence: The man with the heavy coat and big shoes ran past the building and into the ally. The second example can be incorporated with an idea from another sentence: The kitchen table was covered with all his favorite foods.

Other fragments are subordinate clauses. A subordinate clause may sound like a sentence because it has a subject and a verb, but it begins with a word that makes it subordinate. These are some of the most common of these words:
after although as because before even though if since so that than that unless until when where whether which while who why

Examples of subordinate clauses that are fragments:

After they understood the problem. Because it was expected. So that drivers would be more careful.

Another kind of fragment is a phrase. These differ from clauses because they are missing either a subject or a verb. For example: The English department is looking for a new teacher. Preferably a writing teacher. The phrase in black is a fragment that can be joined to the sentence before it, separated by a comma. Corrected: The English department is looking for a new teacher, preferably a writing teacher.

Sometimes an ing form of a word (a gerund) can be a subject. For example: Writing is an important skill. This is a complete sentence because the word writing is the subject. It acts as a noun in this sentence. A fragment occurs when the ing word is a part of an incomplete verb or when the subject of the sentence is in the previous sentence. For example: Langston Hughes has achieved great success. Writing poetry. To correct this, just combine the two groups of words. Langston Hughes has achieved great success writing poetry.

Other fragments may begin with an infinitive, which is to plus the base form of the verb. For example: Maya Angelou developed a resilient attitude. To overcome childhood traumas. Here also the two sentences can simply be combined, or additional words may be added for clarity. For example: Maya Angelou developed a resilient attitude because she had to overcome childhood traumas. Some languages allow omission of a subject or even a verb. English does not, except in the case of imperative sentences. These commands have an understood subject of you For example: Make your bed. The understood subject is you ; you are to make your bed.

y Independent clauses that have not been joined correctly are

called run-on sentences. y There are two kinds: 1) fused sentences are two independent clauses joined without the use of punctuation or a coordinating conjunction Example: Amanda walked into the mall she bought a pair of shoes. 2) comma splices are two independent clauses joined only by a comma Example: Amanda walked into the mall, she bought a pair of shoes.

Writers have four choices to revise run-ones. y Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) y Use a semicolon y Make each clause into a separate sentence y Rewrite the sentence, maybe making one subordinate to the other Usually one choice will be better than the others for a particular sentence.

Possible corrections:
Amanda walked into the mall, and she bought a pair of shoes. Amanda walked into the mall and bought a pair of shoes. Amanda walked into the mall ; she bought a pair of shoes.

Every time you use a singular noun, (a common noun that names one countable item) that noun requires some kind of determiner. Articles are one kind of determiner. They are signals that a noun is to follow. The definite article the is used when the noun is a specific person, place or thing. (Specific means anyone who reads your writing knows exactly which noun you are referring to.) The indefinite article a is used when the person, place or thing is nonspecific. If the noun begins with a vowel sound, use an in place of a.

If an adjective or phrase comes between the article and the noun, the choice of article does not change. Definite article the: the computer the antiquated computer the candidate the well-qualified candidate Indefinite article a: a chair a cold, metal chair an umbrella a useless umbrella

Anything represented by a noun that cannot be counted is referred to as a noncount noun. For example, water, rice air and love are non count nouns in English. Nouns classified as noncount nouns vary from language to language. Noncount nouns are always singular and use either the or no article.

 Food and drink bacon, beef, bread, broccoli, butter cabbage, cereal, cheese, chocolate, coffee, fish, flour fruit, ice cream, meat, milk, oil, pasta, rice, tea, water, wine Nonfood substances air, cement dirt, gasoline, gold, paper, plastic, rain, snow, soap, wool, wool

Abstract nouns advice, anger, beauty, confidence, courage, fun, happiness, health, honesty, information, intelligence, knowledge, love poverty, truth, wealth Other biology and other areas of study, clothing, equipment, homework, jewelry, luggage, machinery, mail, money, news, poetry, pollution, research, traffic, transportation, violence, weather, work

If the meaning of the noncount noun is specific, use the. If the meaning is nonspecific, do not use the.
Example: Kahil served rice to us. He flavored the rice with curry. Rice is a noncount noun. In the second sentence, rice has become specific, so the is used.

The noun may have been mentioned before: A truck loaded with potatoes cut in front of our car. When the truck stopped suddenly, we almost hit it. A superlative such as best or most makes the noun s identity specific: Our petite daughter dated the tallest boy in her class.

A phrase or clause following the noun restricts its meaning: Mom warned me that the platter on the top shelf was cracked. The noun describes a specify person, place, or thing: During an eclipse, one should never look directly at the sun. The context or situation makes the noun s identity clear: Please don t slam the door on your way out.

When to omit the:

y Streets, squares, parks y Cities, states, counties,

Examples:
Main Street, Union Square, Yellowstone Park Dallas, Hawaii, Ellis County, Nigeria, South America

most countries, continents

y Bays, single lakes or

mountains, islands

Tampa Bay, Joe Pool Lake, Mount St. Helens, Crete

Examples:
y

united countries large regions, deserts oceans, seas, gulfs canals, rivers mountain ranges groups of islands

the United States of America the East Coast, the Sahara the Pacific, the Dead Sea, the Persian Gulf the Panama Canal, the Amazon the Rocky Mountains

the Solomon Islands