Batna 2 university

L1: G5 Faculty of Letters and Foreign Languages

Department of English

Teacher : S.Benbrahim

Sentence problems:
1- Fragments/ run-ons/ comma splices:
 Comma Splices
It occurs when two independent clauses are joined with a comma that is not followed
by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor,for, so, yet)
Examples:
the snow needs to be shoveled, get going on it right away
I had class at 9a.m., I woke up at noon.

 Run-On Sentences
A run-on sentence (sometimes called a “fused sentence”) results when two complete
thoughts (a.k.a. “independent clauses”) are joined without any punctuation separating
them. Hence, your sentence just runs on and on…

Example:I had class early this morning I woke up at noon.

Solutions for Revising Comma Splices and Run-On

Sentences:
1. Separate sentences with a period:

I had class early this morning. I woke up at noon.

2. Join sentences with a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction:

I had class early this morning, but I woke up at noon.

3. Join sentences with a semicolon:

I had class early this morning; I woke up at noon.

4. Join sentences with a semicolon followed by a conjunctive adverb:

I had class early this morning; however, I woke up at noon.

5. Join sentences using a subordinating conjunction:

Although I had class early this morning, I woke up at noon.

  Sentence Fragments
Fragments results when an incomplete thought is punctuated as if it were complete sentence.

Sentence Fragment: Down by the bay.

That looks like a complete sentence because it begins with a capital letter and ends with a
period, but it is not. It begs the question, what is down by the bay?

Fragments can happen for a lot reasons (maybe there is no subject, maybe there is no verb, or
maybe you’ve written a modifying phrase that isn’t actually modifying anything). The
previous example could be edited many different ways to achieve a complete sentence, but
here’s one example:

Correction: The blue heron landed down by the bay.

Now I have both a subject (“blue heron”) and a verb (“landed”).

2- Dangling & Misplaced Modifiers

A modifier is a phrase or word meant to describe or explain part of a sentence. When

modifiers are used correctly, the meaning of the sentence is clear. When modifiers are used
incorrectly the meaning of the sentence can change drastically. Using modifiers correctly will
improve the clarity of your work. Watch out for the two modifier mistakes:

 Dangling Modifiers
 Misplaced Modifiers

Dangling Modifiers

“A dangling modifier is a word or word group that refers to (or modifies) a word or phrase
that has not been clearly stated in the sentence” (Harris 118). When a sentence begins with a
phrase that is not directly connected to the subject that it refers to, that phrase is
“dangling.” The following are examples of incorrect modifiers and how to correct a dangling
modifier:

Examples:

Incorrect: Driving past The Bread Box Café, the sun peeked through the clouds.

This sentence implies that the sun was the “doer of the action”, that the sun was driving past
The Break Box Café.

Correct: Driving past The Bread Box Café, Suzanne saw the sun peek through the clouds.

Incorrect: Having just met the new roommates, it was certain that this year would come
down to survival of the fittest.
In this sentence the subject “it” takes on the action of “having just met the new roommates.”

Correct: Having just met the new roommates, Joey was certain that this year would come
down to survival of the fittest.

Misplaced Modifiers

“A misplaced modifier is a word or word group placed so far away from what it refers to (or
modifies) that the reader may be confused. Modifiers should be placed as closely as possible
to the words they modify in order to keep the meaning clear” (Harris 120). The following are
examples of incorrect modifiers and how to correct a misplaced modifier:

Examples:

Incorrect: The Girl Scouts went wild when they were told that they had raised one million
dollars by selling cookies at the troop meeting.

The way this sentence is written means that during the troop meeting the Girl Scouts raised
one million dollars. However, “at the troop meeting” should actually refer to where “they
were told.”

Correct: The Girl Scouts went wild when they were told at the troop meeting that they had
raised one million dollars by selling cookies.

Misplaced modifiers can also be just one word. These are some of the frequently misplaced
one-word modifiers: almost, even, hardly, just merely, nearly, only (Harris 121). Changing
the location of these individual words changes the meaning of the sentence.

Example: The student passed almost all of her classes.

This sentence means that she passed most of her classes, but not all of them.

The student almost passed all of her classes.

This sentence means that she came close to passing all of her classes but didn’t actually pass
any of them.
The word it intends to The word it id wrongly
Examples:
modify modifying

I have given some chocolate to students imported from Germany

Misplaced modifier

Thinking about the story, the movie started

Dangling modifier It is a dangling modifier since the sentence does not have the
word or words the modifier can or intents to modify