Grammar Basics: Fragments, Comma Splices, and Run-Ons

Vocabulary review covering sentence structure basics, phrases vs. clauses, sentence fragments, dependent clauses, subordinating and coordinating conjunctions, comma splices, and run-on sentences.

Phrase

A group of words that does not contain a full subject and verb structure, such as 'in the morning'.

Clause

A group of words that forms a sentence or part of a sentence and contains both a subject and a verb, such as 'School opens in the morning'.

Subject

The person, place, thing, or idea that performs the action or is described in a sentence.

Predicate

The part of a sentence containing the verb that tells what the subject does or is.

Compound Subject

A subject made up of two or more simple subjects sharing the same predicate, such as 'Bob and Doug' in 'Bob and Doug are funny guys'.

Compound Predicate

A predicate made up of two or more verbs or verb phrases sharing the same subject, such as 'enjoys biking but loves swimming' in 'Shelby enjoys biking but loves swimming'.

Fragment

An incomplete sentence that occurs when a subject is missing, a predicate is missing, or a dependent clause stands alone.

Dependent Clause

A group of words with a subject and a predicate that cannot stand alone as a complete thought, usually because it begins with a subordinating conjunction.

Subordinating Conjunction

A conjunction (such as 'because', 'although', or 'when') that introduces a dependent clause and joins it to an independent sentence.

Common Subordinating Conjunctions

Words including after, although, as if, as long as, as much as, as soon as, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order that, now that, provided that, since, so long as, though, unless, until, when, whenever, whereas, whether, while, and where.

Comma Splice

A grammatical error occurring when two independent sentences are smushed together using only a comma without a coordinating conjunction.

Coordinating Conjunction

Conjunctions used alongside a comma to properly join two independent sentences, remembered by the acronym FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So).

Run-On

A grammatical error occurring when two or more independent sentences are smushed together with no punctuation or incorrect punctuation.

CS (Proofreading Mark)

A teacher or editor's mark on a paper standing for Comma Splice.

frag. (Proofreading Mark)

A teacher or editor's mark on a paper standing for Fragment.

RO (Proofreading Mark)

A teacher or editor's mark on a paper standing for Run On.