Sentence or Fragment

Sentence

• Subject + conjugated verb that responds to subject

• Subject = noun or pronoun

Prepositional phrases

• Phrase that begins with a preposition

• Time or location word before noun

• Can be multiple side by side, between subject and verb, or beginning of sentence

• CanNOT be it’s own sentence

Group pronouns

• Some, several, few, many, others

• Pronoun (of them) = sentence

• Pronoun + of which/whom = fragment

Adverbs

• Modify verbs/clauses (adj + ly)

• Adverbs of time = when or how often

• Transitions

• No grammatical effect on sentence

• Sentence of adverb (regardless of placement) is a sentence

Non-essential

• Describe nouns (usually subject), surrounded by commas, often beginning with w-words, followed by verb

• Can be removed and sentence still makes sense

Appositives

• NE that begins with noun

• Can be placed beginning or end

  • Cannot stand alone as complete sentence

• Shortcut = statement beginning with w-word = incomplete sentence

Participles

• Present: formed by adding -ing to a verb

• Past: -ed or -n to a verb

Participial phrase:

• Begins with a participle (present/past)

• Can appear in beginning, middle, or end of a sentence

• Cannot stand on its own as a sentence

Gerunds

• Identical to present participles

• adding -ing to verbs

• Act as nouns, follow pronouns or prepositions

*Clauses with subject + -ing word = fragment

*Answer choices with being = usually wrong

Conjugations

1. Coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS)

   1. Join 2 independent clauses

2. Subordinating conjunctions (AWHITEBUS)

   1. Join independent and dependent clauses

   2. Can be placed before or after independent clause

   3. A phrase starting with a subordinating conjunction is itself dependent

*Clause begun by subordinating conjunction must contain conjugated verb rather than -ing verb

*When no subject is present: -ing can appear