Fragments Excercise 1

*A* Chewing the dry, tough, whole-grain bread bought from the health food store. *B* Lorena tried to enjoy her lunch. *C* Fantasizing about a juicy cheeseburger on a soft white bun didn't improve the taste of the soy product sandwiched between leaves of organic lettuce.

A

*A* Each morning when Helene is fixing her hair in the bathroom. *B* She applies many sticky hair products. *C* During a typical day, she catches more bugs in her coif than most spiders manage to land in their webs in a week.

A

*A* Ever since Andre peeked at Melissa's paper during the biology exam. *B *Guilt has consumed him. *C* Even the blueberries floating in his cereal bowl seem like the accusing eyes of Dr. Gregory, his microbiology instructor.

A

*A* Rocking and thrashing like a wild horse that cowboys had lassoed. *B* The washer complained about its overloaded tub. *C* At the other end of the laundromat, Bobby quietly read an old magazine, pretending that it was not his machine.

A

*A* Struggling up three flights of stairs, her arms filled with the heavy texts for four classes, her backpack loaded with notebooks and other supplies. *B* Jamala huffed and puffed. *C* Never again would she register for all of her classes back-to-back on the same days of the week.

A

*A* Day after day, thunderclouds rolled in during the early afternoon. *B* Making Madison's grass thrive from all of the water. *C* Her neighbors, however, prayed for a sunny afternoon so that Madison could finally mow the jungle that was the front yard.

B

*A* Farah woke Kirby, the family's ancient German shepherd. *B* To see if he had fallen asleep on the remote control. *C* The growl that Kirby rumbled in protest convinced Farah to use the channel buttons on the front of the television instead.

B

*A* James opened the door of his cluttered refrigerator. *B* Which caused a pint of blueberries to fall to the floor. C The fruit bounced and rolled everywhere in an explosion of indigo.

B

*A* Joshua found the pressure from the gas in his stomach unbearable. *B* Although he didn't want to be rude in the middle of geology class. *C* An explosive belch erupted from his mouth.

B

*A* Ralph spent all of his savings on a diamond ring to give to his girlfriend Melanie. *B* A greedy young woman who had a box full of expensive trinkets from ex-boyfriends. *C* Melanie was always looking for the man with the fattest wallet.

B

*A* Richie loves to walk his friends' dogs at Lake Eola Park. *B* For example, Kim's Labrador retriever Murphy or Gary's bulldog Kembo. *C* Beautiful women, Richie has learned, gravitate toward guys with cute dogs.

B

A Phillip left work early. *B* To memorize the vocabulary that his Spanish midterm would test the next day. *C* But all that he could think about was Beatrice, the cute new sales associate who worked in the camera department.

B

*A* As quietly as possible, Sherri tried to open the one-pound bag of candy on her lap. *B* Finally, the tough plastic split open. *C* Causing an explosion of chocolate balls that bounced and rolled down the aisles of Dr. Wilson's chemistry class.

C

*A* Emily pounded on the bedroom door, demanding a little quiet so that she could study for her physics midterm. *B* Her sister Amy ignored the request. *C* And continued banging on the drum set that she bought at a garage sale.

C

*A* Head down, Lela stared at the textbook on her desk. *B* She understood the fragment practice that Mrs. Markham was going over in class. *C* But was too shy to raise her hand and volunteer an answer.

C

*A* Maria wasn't watching her plate of barbecue very carefully. *B* So Santana, the family beagle, snatched a chicken leg hanging over the edge. *C* As baked beans and potato salad slid onto Maria's new sandals.

C

*A* My cat Fuzz loves to sleep in inconvenient places. *B* Lately she prefers the computer table. *C* Where her long hair sticks to the mouse pad, covers the keyboard, and clings to the screen of the monitor.

C

*A* Peering around the other students in line, Sylvia tried to see the lunch choices. *B* The cafeteria selections were disappointing. *C* For example, greasy fried chicken, soupy sweet-n-sour pork, and a gray mystery meat floating in translucent, lumpy gravy.

C

*A* Raja knew that his roommate Tina had cupcakes hidden in the apartment. *B* He looked everywhere. *C* Including in the clothes hamper, on top of the bookcases, behind the sofa—even under his own bed!—all to no avail.

C

*A* While cleaning under his bed, Glen heard the vacuum cleaner suck up something hard and metallic. *B* Glen wanted to know what the object was. *C* But had no intention of digging through a bag of dust, dead bugs, cat litter, and bathroom hair to find out.

C

A fragment occurs whenever you do these three things: You begin a group of words with a capital letter. You conclude this group of words with an end mark—either a period [ . ], question mark [ ? ], or exclamation point [ ! ]. You neglect to insert a main clause somewhere between the capital letter at the beginning and the end mark concluding the word group. Every sentence must have at least one main clause. A main clause contains an independent subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. Once you have a main clause, you can then add other grammatical elements, but you must have the main clause as the base of the sentence.

Fragment