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10Fragments and Run-Ons
Sentencefragmentsandrun-onsentencesarewritingerrorsthatcanmakeyourwritingdifficulttounderstand.
Asentencefragmentispartofasentencethatiswrittenasifitwereacompletesentence.Asentencefragmentismissingasubject,apredicate,orboth.
FragmentsTheMaya,aNativeAmericanpeople.(missingapredicate)
Developedamagnificentcivilization.(missingasubject)
InsouthernMexicoandCentralAmerica.(missingboth)
RevisionTheMaya,aNativeAmericanpeople,developedamagnificentcivilizationinsouthernMexicoandCentralAmerica.
Arun-onsentenceistwoormoresentenceswrittenasiftheywereasinglesentence.Whenyoucombinetwosentenceswithaconjunction,useacommabeforetheconjunction.
Run-onTheMayalivedinCentralAmericatheirdescendantsstilllivethere.
RevisionTheMayalivedinCentralAmerica,andtheirdescendantsstilllivethere.
PART 1 Identifying Sentences, Sentence Fragments, and Run-Ons
Totherightofeachwordgroupbelow,typeCS,F,orROtoidentifythewordgroupas acompletesentence, a fragment,or a run-onsentence.
1.ExistedaslongagoasB.C.2000.
2.TheMayacreatedhundredsofgreatcitiesoutofstone.
3.MostoftheMayawerefarmerstheycametothecitiestoattendfestivals.
4.Only priests,nobles,rulers, andofficials.
5.TheMayabuilt a networkofroadstheseroadsencouragedtradebetweengroupsofpeoplethroughoutCentralAmerica.
6.In thetropicalrainforestsofnorthernGuatemala.
7.They werevery advanced inscience,mathematics, and art.
8.TheMayahadagamethatresembledbasketballtheplayershitarubberballthroughahoopwiththeirelbowsandhips.
9.Usedastronomytodevelopacalendar.
10.AMayancalendarhad365days.
11.The Maya had nooverall ruler or governmentevery city was independent.
12.WhytheMayancivilizationcollapsed.
28 GRAMMAR,USAGE,ANDMECHANICSBOOK
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10Fragments and Run-OnsMorePractice
PART 2 Identifying and CorrectingFragments and Run-Ons
Onthelineaftereachwordgroupbelow,typeCS,F,orROtoidentifythewordgroupas acomplete sentence, afragment, ora run-on sentence. Then rewrite eachfragmentorrun-onasoneormorecorrectsentences.Addsentencepartsasneeded.
1.It’scoldtodayremembertobringyourjacket.
2.Downthestreet.
3.Caryisadrummerinaband.
4.Theplaybeginsat2:00wehadbetterhurry.
5.Hundredsofpeopleinthestands.
PART 3 CorrectingFragments and Run-ons
Rewritethis paragraph, correcting each fragment and run-on.Youmay add wordstoanyfragmenttomakeitasentenceorcombineitwithanothersentence.Tocorrect arun-on,youmayeitherseparatethesentencesorjointhemcorrectly.
TheAztecsruled a mightyempireinMexico.Duringthe1400sand1500s.
AztecshadanadvancedcivilizationtheybuiltcitiesasbigasanyinEurope.TheAztecsbuiltahugecity.Onanislandinalake.Apopulationofonehundred thousand people.Conqueredother cities in Mexico.The conqueredpeoplesent food asatribute they also providedgold andsilver.
GRAMMAR,USAGE,ANDMECHANICSBOOK 29
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10Fragments and Run-Ons
PART 4
A.ProofreadingforFragments and Run-Ons
Rewritethis paragraph, correcting each fragment and run-on.Youmay add wordstoanyfragmenttomakeitasentence,orcombineitwithanothersentence.Tocorrect arun-on,youmayeitherseparatethesentencesorjointhemcorrectly.
The main food of the Aztecs.A thin cornmeal pancakecalledatlaxcalli.InSpanish,thisfoodiscalled atortillatheAztecswrappedthesepancakesaroundmeatandvegetablestomaketacos.Createdadrinkmadewith
chocolate.Thiswasoneoftheirfavoritedrinksonlythewealthycouldafforditoften.These foods,developed by theAztecs.Have become popular all overtheworld.
B.Recognizing and RevisingFragments and Run-ons
Readthesenotesonestudentwrotetouseinareport.Firstfigureoutwhatthewriterwasgoingtosay,andthenusetheinformationtowriteaparagraph.Usecompletesentencesinsteadoffragmentsandrun-onsentences.Addanywordsthatyouneedtomaketheparagraphunderstandable.Useaseparatepieceofpaper,ifnexessary.
Braille.Acodeofsmall raised dotson paper that can be read bytouch.Louis Braille, a15-year-oldFrench student. Atthe National Institutefor theBlindinParis.Developedthisraiseddotsystemin1824.Brailleworkedoutanalphabetandnumeralsusingthissystemheevenfiguredouthowtousetheraiseddotstowritemusic.Readthissystembyrunningtheirfingersoverthedots.EachBraillepagehaswordswrittenonbothsidesofthepaper,dotsononesidedonotinterferewiththedotsprintedontheotherside.Thissystemofwritingfortheblind.NamedafterLouisBraille.
30 GRAMMAR,USAGE,ANDMECHANICSBOOK