Taking Essay Exams and Sentence
Fragments (Grammar #6)
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TONIGHT’S HOMEWORK
ESSAY EXAMS (LBCH pp. 117-121)
(1) Submit final cause-effect essay on
MyHCC / Canvas and bring any hard
copies (group discussion notes, proofreaders’ marked-up copies, and possibly prewriting, outline, and / or tutoring) to class,
PREPARING FOR AN ESSAY EXAM
(2) read chapter on division / classification
(LR pp. 205-211 or "Rhetorical Modes:
Classification"), AND
• Take careful notes in class and when reading.
• Be sure you have read the assignments.
• Summarize what you have heard and read to
be sure that you remember and understand it.
• Reorganize the material to think about it in
new ways.
(3) begin studying for midterm exam
ON THE DAY OF THE ESSAY EXAM
• Get your bearings and plan your approach.
• Look over the whole exam. Read each
question twice.
• Consider the wording, especially the verbs:
define, explain, compare, summarize,
analyze, evaluate, interpret.
• OUTLINE YOUR IDEAS!!!! Then write a
thesis. (Because essay exams are limited in
length, they usually do not require full
introductions. You can start with the thesis.)
SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
A complete sentence contains
a subject, a verb, and a complete
thought:
Dan attended the pep rally before
the football game.
DEVELOPING THE ESSAY
DO:
• Keep the subject (field of study) in mind
• Use topic sentences and specific, relevant
evidence to support your thesis and points
• Revise and proofread your draft
• Pace yourself; keep an eye on the time
DON’T:
• Pad the essay by repeating yourself
• Use first person or state your feelings
• Recopy the whole essay
When a group of words
fails to tell
• who or what did something (the subject),
• what happened (the verb), and/or
• a complete thought (has a subject and verb
but also a dependent word),
it is a sentence fragment.
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Taking Essay Exams and Sentence
Fragments (Grammar #6)
Sat behind
me in
science class
Yes, we need a subject.
The new girl sat behind
me in science class.
What’s
missing?
The bag of
groceries on
the kitchen
table
What’s
missing?
Screaming
at the
caterer
What’s
missing?
--
Yes, we need a verb.
The bag of
groceries on
the kitchen
table spilled
onto the
floor.
We need a subject, but
even the verb is not complete.
It needs a helping verb.
We can add a subject and
a helping verb…
The bride is screaming
at the caterer.
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Taking Essay Exams and Sentence
Fragments (Grammar #6)
--
or we can attach the phrase to a
sentence that is already complete:
Such as
riding a
tricycle
Screaming at the
caterer, the bride
ruined her wedding.
What’s
missing?
Yes, we need a subject
and a verb.
My dog
performs
many tricks,
such as riding
a tricycle.
After the rain stopped
What’s missing?
This is just an added detail.
We have a subject and a verb but
no complete thought because we
have a dependent word
(subordinating conjunction).
We can delete the dependent word...
After The
the rain stopped.
… OR we need to attach this
fragment to a complete clause.
After the rain
stopped,
the children ran
outside to play.
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Taking Essay Exams and Sentence
Fragments (Grammar #6)
COMMON DEPENDENT WORDS
(subordinating conjunctions)
after*
as if
before*
although
as though
even
as
because
even though
if
once
though
like*
since
unless
now that
so that
until
what
whenever
whereas
whatever
where
whether
when
wherever
while
Remember the Difference
Between Clauses and Phrases
• A CLAUSE is a group of words that
contains a subject and its verb.
the boy ran
people talk
it is
if you go
• A PHRASE is a group of words that does
NOT contain a subject and its verb.
the boy next door people with loud voices
being hungry
for a while
If it’s just a PHRASE, it’s a
fragment.
If it’s just a DEPENDENT
CLAUSE, it’s a fragment.
--
MORE DEPENDENT WORDS
(RELATIVE PRONOUNS)
that
which
who
whom
whoever
whomever
(These create dependent clauses that cannot stand
alone, but the comma rules are different.)
Clauses and Phrases
The important things to remember:
• A clause has a subject and complete verb that
go together; a phrase doesn’t.
• An “-ing” verb cannot be the only verb in a sentence. With no helping verb, it makes a phrase.
• A phrase can never be a sentence by itself.
• Clauses must be connected to sentences (other
clauses) in very specific ways (with specific
conjunctions and punctuation) whereas phrases
can be added more freely.
Grammar #9: Sentence
Fragments
Complete and submit the HANDOUT
before our next class. There is no
Grammar #9 exercise on Canvas.
If it has an INDEPENDENT
CLAUSE, it’s a sentence.
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