SENTENCE STRUCTURE and FRAGMENTS
code: frag
Sentence Structure: The Independent Clause:
A sentence is a group of words comprised of, at minimum, an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE, which
contains both a SUBJECT (someone or something) and a VERB or VERB PHRASE (some
action). In other words, an independent clause must describe some person or thing performing
some action:
“The
Hawks

SUBJECT
haven't improved


VERB PHRASE
this year.”
Sentence Structure: The Dependent Clause:
Added to the independent clause may be one or more DEPENDENT CLAUSES. A dependent
clause lacks a main subject and/or a main verb and thus cannot stand by itself as a separate
sentence. It depends on the subject and verb in the INDEPENDENT (MAIN) clause for its
logical and grammatical completion. The following two dependent clauses might be tacked on
to the main clause “The Hawks haven't improved this year”:
a)
“except in one or two areas”
b)
“despite the brilliant coaching of Jacques Strappe”
Complex Sentences: Left-Branching and Right-Branching:
A COMPLEX SENTENCE consists of both an INDEPENDENT clause and one or more
DEPENDENT clauses.
A complex sentence that follows the formula INDEPENDENT CLAUSE, DEPENDENT
CLAUSE is called a right-branching (or loose) sentence (as in #1, below).
A complex sentence that follows the formula DEPENDENT CLAUSE, INDEPENDENT
CLAUSE is called a left-branching (or periodic, or suspended) sentence (#2).
1)
“The Hawks haven't improved this year, despite the brilliant coaching of Jacques
Strappe.” (right-branching)
2)
“Except in one or two areas, the Hawks haven't improved this year.” (left-branching)
3)
“Except in one or two areas, the Hawks haven't improved this year, despite the brilliant
coaching of Jacques Strappe.” (left- and right-branching)
Students who have problems with some forms of punctuation (such as commas and semicolons)
and sentence fragments must think more carefully about the way they're building—structuring—
their sentences.
Left-branching
Right-branching
(because this dependent clause
branches off to the left of the
MAIN
main clause)
CLAUSE
____________________________________________
Except in one or two areas,
the Hawks
haven't
improved
this year,
(because this dependent clause
branches off to the right of the main
clause)
despite the brilliant coaching of
Jacques Strappe.
Note: Commas separate dependent clauses from the main clause, usually.
Sentence FRAGMENTS:
A sentence FRAGMENT might be a single word, phrase, or dependent clause. Whatever the
case, it is only a fragment of a sentence because it is unconnected to an INDEPENDENT clause
and therefore lacks a subject and/or a verb:
“except in one or two areas”
“despite the brilliant coaching
of Jacques Strappe”
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Neither of these two dependent clauses is a sentence
—they're fragments because they depend on the
main/independent clause for their logical and grammatical completion.
To eliminate a sentence fragment, determine whether it leads into an INDEPENDENT clause or
is a logical extension of an INDEPENDENT clause. Then connect it to the independent clause
with punctuation—usually commas are appropriate, as in the full sentences (#1, 2, and 3).
The SENSE Test:
While a full sentence must have a subject and a verb, sometimes even a sentence fragment passes
this grammatical test. We do have one foolproof test, however, that a fragment cannot pass—the
sense test. A true fragment simply will not make sense by itself. If you want to test whether
something's a fragment, just ask if you'd be understood if you said it to someone. Take one of
the dependent clauses, above: would someone follow you if you said “Except in one or two
areas”?—of course not. You'd be asked to supply the missing thought—the missing main
clause!