
Computing Science
15. Muddled phrasing - sentence fragments
The sentence fragment is a clause masquerading as a complete sentence. It irritates readers, who are left wondering where the rest of the sentence has gone. Luckily, they're very easy to fix.
A sentence fragment is a sentence without a driving verb (a doing word). It may seem to contain a verb but the verb does not set the action in time, i.e. it does not tell us when or if an action was, is being, will be or might be performed. Such verbs are called 'driving verbs', 'main verbs' or 'finite verbs'. These terms - driving, main or finite - are interchangeable. To be a complete, a sentence needs a main verb.
Here's a sentence without a main verb:
- Working together to program the system.
'Working’ is not a main verb. It is a style of verb called a gerund, i.e. a verb working as a noun. It does not power the sentence by telling us when the action was, is, will, or could be performed.
- So that you can win a computing science prize in the future.
‘Can’ is a verb but the sentence leaves the reader hanging in mid air because it lacks a main clause telling us what must be done 'so that you can win ...'
I blame political speech-writers. They love fragments. In Tony Blair's 1998 oration to the Labour party, there were over a hundred fragments. He is often laughed at for this, but fragments have their uses: they make perfect soundbites.
- 'So that no child is left behind.'
- 'Education, education, education.'
For certain types of writing, including novels and journalism, fragments are very useful. In computing science assignments, however, sentences need to be complete.
Here is an easy way of identifying fragments:- Pretend your sentence is the only sentence on the page.
- Read it aloud.
- If it leaves you feeling as though there is something missing, or it makes no sense without another sentence beside it, it is probably a fragment.
Correcting a fragment is not hard. Often, the fragment just needs joining up to the sentence of which it clear forms a part:
- The computing scientists from Glasgow University and Edinburgh University joined forces. Working together to make a robot. (one sentence, one fragment)
- The computing scientists from Glasgow University and Edinburgh University joined forces, working together to make a robot. (one sentence)
- That was nonsense.
- His excuse was nonsense.
Task | Task Type | Difficulty |
---|---|---|
Task 1 | Free text | Moderate |
Task 2 | Free text | Moderate |
Task 3 | Free text | Easier |
Task 4 | Free text | More Challenging |
Task 5 | Free text | Easier |
Task 6 | Free text | Moderate |
Task 7 | Free text | Easier |
Task 8 | Free text | Easier |
Task 9 | Free text | Moderate |
Task 10 | Free text | Easier |
Task 11 | Free text | More Challenging |
Task 12 | Free text | Easier |