Long fragments
Some fragments are long enough to look important.
“The big brown dog with the red collar”
Seven words. Every one of them tells you more about the dog. Which dog is big, which dog is brown, which dog wears a collar. Not one of them tells you what the dog does.
All seven words are the naming part. The telling part never shows up, so this is a fragment.
“The big brown dog with the red collar barked at me.”
Where and when on their own
Read this one.
“In the park after lunch.”
It tells you where. It tells you when. It never tells you who, and it never tells you what happened. Both parts are missing, so it is a fragment too.
Words about where and when are helpers. They belong inside a sentence, not standing alone as one.
“Ava played in the park after lunch.”
Two kinds of extra words
| Group of words | What the extra words do | Still a fragment? |
|---|---|---|
| The big brown dog with the red collar | tell which dog | Yes |
| In the park after lunch | tell where and when | Yes |
| The dog barked | nothing extra | No. It is a sentence. |
Extra words make a group of words longer. They never make it whole.
A mistake to watch for
When a fragment is long, children often decide it must be a sentence because so much is going on in it. Run the two questions anyway. The length is a distraction.
Your turn
Say sentence or fragment.
- “The tall boy in the blue jacket.”
- “My cat sleeps under the porch.”
- “Behind the school on Tuesday.”
- “Six ducks swim.”
Check your answers
- Fragment. Every word tells you which boy. Nothing tells what he does.
- Sentence.
- Fragment. It tells where and when and nothing else.
- Sentence. Short but whole.
Remember
- A long group of words can still be missing a part.
- Words about where and when cannot stand alone.
- Run both questions no matter how long the group of words is.