One half of this note says too little and the other half says too much at once. Both are fixable, and a single question tells you how.
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Students will recognize a sentence fragment, a group of words missing a subject, a predicate or a complete thought, and a run-on, two or more sentences run together without correct punctuation, and will correct both.
A fragment leaves a question unanswered. Ask who? or what did they do? or what about it?, and the answer is the part to add.
A run-on packs too many thoughts together. Fix it by splitting it into separate sentences, by adding a comma and a conjunction, by doing both, or by simplifying two thoughts into one.
A fragment that starts with a capital and ends with a period looks like a sentence. Because the library closed early. has both, and it still leaves the reader asking what happened.
A comma isn't enough to join two sentences. Two complete thoughts with only a comma between them are still a run-on, and the book counts them as one.
Read each word group aloud and ask the student to answer it like a listener: who? did what? what about it? If there's a question left hanging, it's a fragment.
For a run-on, have the student put a finger where the first thought ends. That spot is where the fix goes.
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Before You Start
The words this lesson uses. Tap a card to see what it means, then come back to them whenever a question uses one.
Part One
Questions about the story you just read. Pick your answer straight off, or press Find it in the story if you would rather hunt for the sentence first.
Part Two
The word cards are at the top of this page. Look back at them as often as you need, then answer.