UVW 312:

English for Technical Communication

(WEEK 9)
Lecturer:

Centre for International Languages

Semester 1, 2019/2020.
Sentence Fragments and
Complete Sentences
 What is a sentence?

A group of words that express a

complete thought.
 A complete sentence needs
a) A subject
- Who or what the sentence is about.
b) A verb
- Expresses action, tells you what the subject does or link
the subject to other important words.
c) A complete thought

* You can have more that one subject or more than one
verb in a sentence.
 A fragment is…

An incomplete sentence.
 What are fragments missing?
• A subject
– Should have gone to the movies.
• A verb
– The amazed family.

• It can have a subject and verb, but does not

express a complete thought.
– I take.
– Farid enjoys.
Common Types of Fragments
 1. Dependent Clause Fragment
• When using dependent words in the
beginning of a sentence.
• Dependent words:
After As Before Because
Since Even if If When
Unless While
 Example:
• After Idayu saw the accident.
• Idayu Saw the accident.
• After Idayu saw the accident, she fainted.
 2. Forgetting the subject
• Finished all of his assignments.
• Cooked together to prepare the dinner.

•To fix these, we need to add a subject.

– Raffiz finished all of his assignments.

– Izzat and Ikram cooked together to prepare the
dinner.
 3. – Ing Fragments
• When we use words end with –ing at the
beginning of a sentence, sometimes becomes
a fragment.

• Finding a suitable marriage partner.

• Hoping to finish on time.
 4. To Fragments
• ( to + base verb)

– To the park.
– To relax and breathe fresh air.
– To work hard to get good grades.
 4. Example Fragments
• When using the words like:
– Especially, for example, for instance, like, such as and
except in the beginning of a sentence.
• E.g.:
– Such as rolling his eyes, smirking, reading
supermarket tabloids during lecture, using hand
phone, folding handouts into paper airplanes and
drawing caricatures on his desk.
 5. Noun Phrase Fragments
Example:
a) The unprepared student who was always
begging for an extra pencil and a couple
sheets of blank paper.
b) A slacker wasting his afternoon in front of
the television.
c) A girl with a long curly black hair.
d) The yellow sedan car with rusted rims and
bent bumper.
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 Is it fragmented or not?
1. When Mr. Jones yelled.
2. I enjoy the opera.
3. They are going on a picnic.
4. Mom found it on a drawer.
5. When the movie is over.
6. I decided to go along.
7. We’re planning to have a party.
• For schools that have yet to get replacement items for damaged
equipment and supplies.

• While some were excited to start the new school term, some were
battling with first-day-school blues

• Such as adaptation to climate change or techniques that use remote

sensing to provide visual maps of landslide risks.

• Widely known for its ability to neutralize free radicals by preventing

oxidization and reducing the formation of free radical.

• His dissertation on the meaning of universe composed arguments he

learned at his mother’s knee.
• With a bilateral agreement scheduled to be signed in the third quarter,
the RM 40 million KL-Singapore high speed rail projects is on track.

• As questions are raised about the exchanges between the airport in

Surabaya and the Indonesian Transport Ministry on that fateful day.

• Although rain in the past few days may have triggered flash floods in
some sort of the state.

• The hills are pegs to keep the flat lands from being washed away by
heavy rainfall and floods.

• The fact that to protect the environment is considered as an act of

worship does not mean that every component of it should be saved.
Exercises