提示单
句子片段

A sentence is a group of words that contains three things:

• A subject (that makes sense with the verb
• 动词(与主语连用)
• 完整的思想

A sentence fragment is a group of words that lacks one or more of these three things. While there 是 many ways to end up with a fragment, almost every fragment is simply a result of one of the following three problems:

• 它少了一个主题
• 它少了一个动词.
• It fails to complete the thought it starts.

片段s 是 no big deal in conversation; spoken English is full of them. 事实上, if 你 spoke in complete sentences for one entire day, 你 would probably get some strange looks. But English conventions require that 你 avoid 写作 fragments (except in very r是 instances), so 你 must be able to identify them in 你r 写作 and fix them.

To begin to identify fragments in 你r 写作, read a sentence aloud. 听起来完整吗?? If 你 walked up to a stranger and said it to him, would it sound like a complete thought to him? Or would he be waiting expectantly for 你 to finish? Even if it sounds okay to 你 (因为 你 already know what 你 mean), look at it and identify the subject (who or what did the action) and the verb (what the subject did) to make sure they're there. (For help identifying subjects and verbs, see the 提示单 句子部分.)如果你认为遗漏了一个主题, 或者这个动词听起来有点奇怪, 或者这个想法被搁置, 参考下面的提示.

失踪的对象
有些片段是缺失的主题. 主题经常出现在附近, perhaps in the preceding sentence; however, each sentence must have a subject of its own. The following fragment lacks a subject:

片段
那天迟到了吗.

谁迟到了?? 老师? 火车? The simplest (but by no means only) way to correct this fragment is to add a subject:

那天我迟到了.

包含以。结尾的单词的短语 ing 常以片段形式出现:

片段
Biking and swimming after work on Thursday.

骑自行车和游泳怎么样? 谁在骑自行车和游泳? Are 你 proposing that we all go biking and swimming? Add both a subject and a verb to correct this (again, not the only solution):

Mitchell went biking and swimming after work on Thursday.

Another suspect in the missing subject category is a phrase like this one:

片段
To register for class before the deadline.

谁想注册?? 或者没有注册? 或计划注册? This fragment lacks both subject and verb. ("To register" is not really a verb, but another thing entirely; see the 提示单 Other Phrases: Verbal, Appositive, Absolute). The simplest fix is to add a subject and verb:

Stan hopes to register for class before the deadline.

(Avoid the mistake of thinking that a command, demand, or request lacks a subject. This kind of sentence has an unstated subject, 你. 所以主题是"Turn in 你r schedule changes at the counter" is 你: "[You] turn in 你r schedule changes at the counter.")

失踪的动词
Some fragments 是 fragments 因为 they 是 missing a verb or an essential part of a verb. Any phrase, no matter how long, is a fragment if the verb is missing:

片段
The birch trees with their rattling yellow leaves.

那桦树呢? Adding a verb makes this fragment complete:

The birch trees with their rattling yellow leaves swayed in the wind.

Some verbs require helpers in order to be complete. 以 ing, for example, must include helpers such as is, 是, 是, 是, 将, or 一直 to be real verbs; without these helpers, they 是 not verbs. (If 你 want to know more about verb look-alikes, see the 提示单 Other Phrases: Verbal, Appositive, Absolute.) The fragment below contains an incomplete verb:

片段
Caroline studying her sociology tonight at Moxie's downtown.

你的耳朵听到奇怪的声音了吗? Add helpers to make the verb complete and repair the fragment:

Caroline 将 studying her sociology tonight at Moxie's downtown.

未完成的想法
A very common type of fragment is the unfinished thought fragment. While other kinds of fragments require 你 to add something--a subject, 或者一个动词, or both--你 can often fix unfinished thought fragments simply by joining them to a preceding or following sentence. The following example, 而 it contains a subject and a verb, fails to complete the thought:

片段
Because tuition increased again this semester.

The word to blame for making this thought incomplete is 因为. (Contrary to rumor, it's perfectly okay to start a sentence with 因为; 你 just have to finish what 你're saying--in the same sentence.如果你找到这样的碎片, see if the sentence before or the sentence after it would complete it:

Because tuition increased again this semester, Kou got a second job as a Student Assistant.

Or

Kou must take fewer units 因为 tuition increased again this semester.

If the preceding or following sentence does not complete the unfinished thought, add the missing information to the fragment to make it complete. There 是 many words that, by their mere presence, make a clause incomplete, for example, 自, 而, 当, 除非, 虽然. For more about these words, see the 提示单 独立的 & 相关的条款.

不顾语法规则, language is plastic and can be shaped a great many ways, 对于任何碎片问题, 存在许多解决方案. The more 你 practice 写作, the more 你 将 able to spot fragments and fix them. 你学的英语越多, the more ways 你 will find to make 你r grammatically correct sentences say exactly what 你 mean.