Lesson 4:Sentence Fragments and Its Characteristics and Classes

HR-TOD: English Business Writing Class

Sentence Fragment

• Is a grammatical structure that may begin with a capital letter and end with a period, question mark or exclamation point but is grammatically incomplete.

Characteristics of a Sentence Fragment

It cannot stand by itself because:• It doesn’t contain even one independent

clause.

Ex. At dusk, just after sunset, with the world so still and serene, awaiting to welcome Selene, the goddess of moonlight.

Characteristics of a Sentence Fragment

• It lacks proper subject-verb relationship within an independent clause.

Ex. In Japan, the American forces fighting during the last war and just before the armistice

Characteristics of a Sentence Fragment

• Describes something but has no subject-verb relationship (true to verbals).

Ex. Bursting with flowers and laden with the promise of bountiful harvest.

Characteristics of a Sentence Fragment

• Has the makings of a sentence but misses an important part of the verb string.

Ex. Many of the workers expecting a huge bonus after the announcement of a successful year.

• Note: the –ing verb form without the auxiliary form to accompany it, will never be a verb.

Characteristics of a Sentence Fragment

• It may have a subject-verb relationship but the S-V structure is found in a dependent clause which can not stand up on its own

Ex. Even though he had a better argument and was, by far, the better speaker

Classes of Sentence Fragments• Noun cluster – A group of words that describes a noun.

Classes of Sentence Fragments– May consist of single-word modifiers such as:• descriptive adjectives (ex: large, yellow, round,

beautiful, strong, happy, victorious) • limiting adjectives such as numerical adjectives

( one, two ; first, second) pronominal adjectives (my, your, her, which, whose, that, this, those, many; all pronouns that can be used to describe a noun or another pronoun)• articles (ex: a, an, the)

Classes of Sentence Fragments– May consist of single-word modifiers such as:• Participial modifiers: the present participles ( singing,

crying) past participles (fallen, broken) • Infinitives: full infinitives and bare infinitives ( to

write, to belong/watch, smell)• nominal modifiers – noun adjunct ( garden tools,

table napkin) • possessive noun (Lucy’s car, The Lord’s prayer) • appositive (my sister, Susan: Michael’s best friend,

Freddie)

Classes of Sentence Fragments– Examples of noun cluster:• The best movie of the year

– The – article; best – adjective; of the year – prepositional phrase

• An interesting article to read– An – article; interesting – present participle; to read –

infinitive

• Our parish priest, Fr. Michael– Our – pronominal modifier; parish – noun adjunct; Fr.

Michael – appositive

Classes of Sentence Fragments• Verb cluster – A group of words that gathers around a verb.

Classes of Sentence Fragments– The group of words may consist of single-

word modifiers such as: • adverb of time

– Ex: tomorrow, now, before, then, already, daily*, weekly*, formerly, still, next month, every quarter*

*may function as adverb of frequency

• adverb of place – Ex: here there, somewhere, upstairs

Classes of Sentence Fragments• adverb of manner

– Ex: neatly, gracefully , inadvertently, carelessly

• adverb of frequency – Ex: always, sometimes, oftentimes, often, rarely,

frequently, never** ** may function as adverb of negation; – (daily, every day, every week , yearly***) *** may function as adverb of time

Classes of Sentence Fragments– Other kinds of adverbs that may be used as

part of verb cluster are:• adverb of affirmation/negation

– Ex: not, surely, certainly, never**** may function as adverb of negation

• adverb of quantity or degree – Ex: too, almost, very, fully, rather, completely

Classes of Sentence Fragments• adverb of purpose/ reason

– Ex: in order to, so as to, so that, in order that, because, as, since, so, so …that, such …that, therefore, thus, consequently, for this/that reason, as a result, resulting

• Note: Verb clusters may include phrases as modifiers or objects of the verb.

Classes of Sentence Fragments– Examples of verb cluster with single-

word modifiers:

1) is calmly distributing the food rations– is distributing – verb string– calmly – adverb of manner– the – article– food – noun adjunct – rations – direct object of the verb

Classes of Sentence Fragments2) has sculpted a very beautiful but highly

controversial monument– has sculpted – verb string– a – article– very – adverb of degree – beautiful – descriptive adjective – but – coordinate conjunction connecting two

adjectives– highly- adverb of manner– controversial – descriptive adjective– monument – direct object of the verb

Classes of Sentence Fragments• Phrase – Consists of an introductory word for which the

phrase is named, the object of the phrase and the modifiers, if any, of the introductory word and its object.

Classes of Sentence Fragments– The different kinds of phrases are: • prepositional phrases• present participial phrases• past participial phrases• infinitive phrase• gerund phrases

Classes of Sentence FragmentsA. Prepositional phrase• A phrase introduced by a preposition – Ex: in, of, to, beside, around, across, behind,

among, between; followed by its object and modifiers, if any.

• Prepositional phrases either function as adverbs or adjectives in the sentence.

Classes of Sentence Fragments– Examples of Prepositional phrases

a) with her loved ones• with – preposition• her – pronominal adjective• loved – past participle• ones – pronoun, object of the preposition

Classes of Sentence Fragmentsb) between the fifth and sixth blocks• between – preposition• the – article• fifth, sixth – numerical adjective• and – coordinating conjunction • blocks – noun, object of the preposition

Classes of Sentence Fragmentsc) in the big, frightening world• In – preposition• the – article • big – descriptive adjective• frightening – present participle • world – noun, object of the preposition.

Classes of Sentence Fragments

• Prepositional phrase with an adjective function:

1) The man in a blue suit is the owner of this restaurant.– “in a blue suit” describes man– “of this restaurant” describes owner

Classes of Sentence Fragments2) The newspaper article about the victims of super

typhoon Yolanda attracted world-wide attention.– “about the victims” describes article– “of super typhoon Yolanda” describes victims”

3) Mario’s gift for his mother was a beautiful vase of fine porcelain.– “ for his mother “ describes gift– “ of fine porcelain” describes vase.

Classes of Sentence Fragments• Prepositional phrase with an adverb function:1) The inhabitants of the village left their homes

because of the flash flood.– because of the flash flood – answers the question

”why?” – functions as an adverb of reason.

2) Alain pointed the stranger to the right direction.– to the right direction – answers the question

“where?” – functions as an adverb of place

Classes of Sentence Fragments3) Margaret will have finished your ball gown by

Friday evening– by Friday evening – answers the question

“when?” – functions as an adverb of time

4) Yvette studied several languages in order to become an interpreter.– in order to become an interpreter – answers the

question “why?” – functions as an adverb of purpose

Classes of Sentence FragmentsB. Present participial phrase• A phrase introduced by a verb form that ends

in –ing – Ex: smiling, visiting, falling, cleaning, etc; followed

by its object and modifiers, if any. – Present participial phrase functions as adjective in

the sentence.

Classes of Sentence Fragments– Examples of present participial phrase

a) That girl, singing the Philippine national anthem , is the winner of a national singing competition.• singing the Philippine national anthem describes girl,

so it functions as an adjective • singing – present participle • the – article• Philippine – Proper descriptive adjective• national – descriptive adjective• anthem – noun, object of the present participle

Classes of Sentence Fragmentsb. The old woman, laundering many soiled clothes,

feels so tired at the end of the day.• laundering many soiled clothes – describes

woman, so it functions as an adjective. • laundering – present participle• many – pronominal adjective derived from

indefinite pronoun• soiled – past participle• clothes – noun, object of the present

participial phrase

Classes of Sentence Fragmentsc) The Sports Commission has carefully chosen the athletes representing this country in the Olympic Games 2014.

• representing this country in the Olympic Games 2014 – describes athletes so it functions as an adjective• representing – present participle • this – pronominal adjective derived from

demonstrative pronoun• country – noun, object of the present participle• in the Olympic Games 2014 – prepositional phrase

functioning as an adjective

Classes of Sentence Fragments• Present participial phrase with an adjective

function:1) The athletes, representing this country in Olympic

Games 2014, hope to bring home several gold medals.

– “representing this country” describes the athletes

2) This hidden paradise is surrounded by cliffs guarding its beauty against corrupt intruders.

– “guarding its beauty” describes cliffs

Classes of Sentence FragmentsC. Past participial phrase • A phrase introduced by past participle whose form

may vary depending on whether its verb form is a regular or irregular verb.

• Past participial phrase is a phrase in passive construction such that the participle is usually followed by prepositional phrase.

– Examples:

1) blown by the wind2) carried to the ocean3) born in a manger

Classes of Sentence FragmentsD.Infinitive phrase•A phrase which is usually introduced by the article “to” followed by the base form of the verb and its object with modifiers, if any. •The infinitive phrase functions as a noun, an adjective or an adverb.

Classes of Sentence Fragments

•In some cases the article “to” in an infinitive is omitted. •This kind of infinitive is called bare or zero infinitive and can be found after verbs of perception such as feel, glimpse, hear, notice, observe, see, watch, witness, etc. and after verbs let (in making a suggestion), make (to compel or cause to) and help.

Classes of Sentence Fragments– Examples of infinitive phrase as a noun:

1) To become a millionaire at 30 is Norbert’s main goal in life (subject of the sentence)

2) Norbert’s main goal in life is to become a millionaire at 30. (linking verb complement)

3) Norbert’s main goal in life, to become a millionaire at 30 can possibly be achieved through hard work and determination as well as a lot of good luck. (appositive)

Classes of Sentence Fragments– Examples of infinitive phrase as an adjective

1) Armand hired Olivia to be his assistant. • to be his assistant – describes Olivia2) The best man to teach you calculus is your own

teacher.• to teach you calculus – describes man.3) The principal has chosen Betty to represent the

school in an oratorical contest. • to represent the school – describes Betty

Classes of Sentence Fragments– Examples of infinitive phrase as an adverb

1) Jenna took up a medical course to please her mother.

• to please her mother - adverb of reason2) To finish her homework and reading assignment,

April refrained from watching her favorite television show.

To finish her homework and reading assignment -adverb of purpose

3) Jesus came to save us from eternal damnation.• To save us - adverb of reason

Classes of Sentence Fragments– Examples of sentences with bare infinitive phrase

Pattern: verb + noun/pronoun object + bare infinitive1) The teacher watches the children discover the

solution to the problem.2) The school bully made the little boy clean his shoes.3) I have observed him open his room swiping the door

lock with a card.

Classes of Sentence FragmentsE. Gerund phrase • A phrase introduced by a verb form that ends

in –ing ( ex. smiling, visiting, falling, cleaning, etc) followed by its object and modifiers, if any.

• Gerund phrase functions as a noun in the sentence.

Classes of Sentence Fragments• Note that the present participle and the

gerund have the same verb construction. The difference lies on their function. Present participle functions as an adjective while gerund functions as a noun.

Classes of Sentence FragmentsExamples and functions of gerund phrase

1) Achieving success early in life is a product of hard work and determination. - Subject of the sentence.

2) Grandfather’s hobby, repairing antique wall clocks, earns him quite a tidy sum. Appositive to hobby.

3) Mrs. Cruz enjoys planning nutritious meals for her family. – direct object of the verb.

Classes of Sentence Fragments4) The foreman’s main responsibility is supervising

the skilled workers in building construction. – linking verb complement

5) Lisa admires Gerard for his taking the responsibility of caring for his younger siblings when their parents died. – objects of the preposition for and of respectively

6) The chairman signaled team leaders to start discussing the ten ways of a Firefly – object of the infinitive

Classes of Sentence FragmentsF. Clause• A grammatical construction with subject and

verb, that is a part of a larger grammatical structure – the sentence.

Classes of Sentence FragmentsTwo kinds of clauses according to structurea) Independent clause or main clause– a group

of words that contains a set of subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. With proper punctuation ending and / or an introductory word that begins with a capital letter, it can stand on its own as a discrete sentence.

Classes of Sentence Fragments• Independent clauses can be joined in several

ways:1) Using coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for,

nor, or, so, yet– Examples:

a) Anton is an outstanding student, and he is also an extraordinary athlete.

b) Vilma wishes to travel the world, but she doesn’t have enough money to accomplish her wish.

c) Manolo doesn’t like the smell of durian, nor does he like its taste.

Note: Place a comma after the first independent clause and before the coordinate conjunction.

Classes of Sentence Fragments2) Using the semi-colon (;)– Examples:

a) Ariel is an active member of Jaycees; he likes the feeling of serving his fellowmen.

b) May is the month of fiestas in the Philippines; even nature participates in the festive atmosphere.

c) The skies are brilliant blue; the sea an inviting green, and I am free the whole day.

Classes of Sentence Fragmentsb) Dependent clause or subordinating clause is a

group of words that contains a set of subject and verb but does not express a complete thought and can not stand alone.

– The clause is usually introduced either by subordinate conjunction or relative pronoun. “That” is the dependent word marker that is sometimes omitted from the sentence.

Classes of Sentence Fragments• Common subordinating conjunctions used as

dependent clause word markers:

- after - even though - til- although - if - unless- as - in order to - until- as if - provided - whether- as though - since - while- because - so that- before - than- even if - though

Classes of Sentence Fragments• Relative pronouns used as dependent clause

word markers:Base word Compound Compound-possessive

Who Whoever Whosever

Whose Whosoever Whosesoever

Whom Whomever Whomsoever

Which Whichever Whichsoever

What Whatever Whatsoever

When Whenever Whensoever

Where Wherever (None)

Why (None) (None)

How* However (None)

That (None) (None)

* How is more often indicated as an adverb.

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End of Lesson 4