Transcript Document

Fragments and Run-ons
“Keep sowing your seed, for you never know which
will grow-perhaps it all will.”
Ecclesiasties
7/18/2015
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By now you should be able to identify isolated fragments or run-ons.
 Now,
let’s try identifying and correcting
fragments and run-ons in paragraphs.
This is a more realistic grammar
exercise.
2
Identify and correct the fragments
 Knowing that tonight was the biggest game of his
life. Sergio began to practice his jumps and
cheers early in the morning. By 8:30AM he had
gotten in a good hour and a half of practice.
Which was much more than what he really
needed. But he then felt that he was truly ready.
He ate a light breakfast and just munched on
energy bars for the rest of the day. Because he
wanted to feel light and energetic that night. All
his hard work and careful preparation. Were not
wasted since he cheered with great spontaneity
and verve for the whole game.
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Corrected version:

Knowing that tonight was the biggest game of his
life, Sergio began to practice his jumps and
cheers early in the morning. By 8:30AM, he
had gotten in a good hour and a half of practice
which was much more than what he really
needed. But he then felt that he was truly ready.
He ate a light breakfast and just munched on
energy bars for the rest of the day because he
wanted to feel light and energetic that night. All
his hard work and careful preparation were not
wasted since he cheered with great spontaneity
and verve for the whole game.
4
Correct the fragments.
The FBI agent, a tall slender man with a
shotgun in his hands, hid behind the
mesquite tree. While his partners
surrounded the evil convict. A man who
had escaped from jail several times and
knew his way around the law. However,
today would be the last day of his life.
Because a military SWAT team and a
helicopter were on their way. There was no
way that this convict would escape today.
He had three options: commit suicide,
surrender or die fighting. Options one and
two were out of the question. Option three
was the only way he knew how to go. A
battle to the death!
5
Corrected paragraph.
The FBI agent, a tall slender man with
a shotgun in his hands, hid behind the
mesquite tree while his partners
surrounded the evil convict, a man who
had escaped from jail several times and
knew his way around the law. However,
today would be the last day of his life
because a military SWAT team and a
helicopter were on their way. There was
no way that this convict would escape
today. He had three options: commit
suicide, surrender or die fighting. Options
one and two were out of the question.
Option three was the only way he knew
how to go, a battle to the death!
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Let’s try a paragraphs with run-on problems.
Writing is not an easy task sometimes you
think you have the perfect phrase, but when
you read it the next day it seem perfectly
awful. The sad thing about writing is that
you usually have to write alone. . You can
get some help from time to time, but
essentially you have to come up with
everything yourself. Then there is dreaded
writers block some type of mental problem
that attacks writers unexpectedly. All of a
sudden you can’t think of one decent
sentence all your sentences and thoughts
seem nonsensical, without meaning.
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Corrected paragraph
Writing is not an easy task. Sometimes you
think you have the perfect phrase, but when
you read it the next day it seem perfectly
awful. The sad thing about writing is that
you usually have to write alone. . You can
get some help from time to time, but
essentially you have to come up with
everything yourself. Then there is dreaded
writers block. Some type of mental problem
that attacks writers unexpectedly. All of a
sudden you can’t think of one decent
sentence. All your sentences and thoughts
seem nonsensical, without meaning.
8
Correct , both fragments and run-ons

As Marisol wrote her letter. She decided that it would be
a good idea to send some money to her husband. Her
husband was at war in Afghanistan and she thought that
maybe he could use a couple of extra dollars. She had
heard that Afghanistan was very cold in the winter and
perhaps he needed to buy some extra warm mittens or
cap so she jumped into her car and drove off to the
nearby bank where she kept all her money. She withdrew
one hundred dollars and went to purchase a money order
at the closest circle K. When she was getting into her car.
She noticed a couple of suspicious teenagers at the stop
sign they were all wearing bandanas and red and black
garments. They appeared to be members of some sinister
gang. When she stopped, they forced her out of her car.
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Corrected version:
As Marisol wrote her letter, she decided that it would be
a good idea to send some money to her husband. Her
husband was at war in Afghanistan, and she thought
that maybe he could use a couple of extra dollars. She
had heard that Afghanistan was very cold in the winter,
and perhaps he needed to buy some extra warm mittens
or cap; so she jumped into her car and drove off to the
nearby bank where she kept all her money. She
withdrew one hundred dollars and went to purchase a
money order at the closest circle K. When she was
getting into her car, she noticed a couple of suspicious
teenagers at the stop sign. They were all wearing
bandanas and red and black garments. They appeared
to be members of some sinister gang. When she
stopped, they forced her out of her car.
10
Assignment: This passage contains both fragment and run-ons

But what these young thugs did not know is that Marisol
had recently earned a black belt in karate and was itching
for a good fight. Plus, she was angry that her husband was
away at war. They thought that Marisol would just cry and
give them all her money at first they thought that Marisol
was joking when she warned them that she had a black belt.
But when the fight began. They soon realized that Marisol
was a genuine martial artist. They were three gang
members. The first she put down with a wicked karate chop
to the throat. Which stopped him from breathing for a good
while and paralyzed him. The second youth went down
when Marisol bashed his head into the hood of the car. He
suffered a broken nose. And a concussion as well. The third
youth decided that he was better off running than facing the
wrath of the karate master, Marisol there was no way that
Marisol was going to let these scumbags take her money!

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