Analysis of Fragments, Comma-Splices
and Run-ons
Frag #03 -- Length and Complexity: This
could be an afterthought, but I'm attributing it to length and complexity
because the fragment is, in essence a second example, parallel to the first
"when" clause. An adult might write, "But he can
be nice sometime like [RNOPwhen he took me to see Chuck Brown over at the
dominion, [which was fun too]], and [RAVFwhen he took me over to Woodstock.]"
The "adult" version is a 31-word main clause, more than three times this
writer's 9.8 average, and 1.5 times the longest main clause in the passage
(19 words). I would probably ignore this error unless the student were
analyzing this passage for clause structure. In that case, I would probably
explain the "adult" version and perhaps add something such as "Wow! You
almost hit a home run in a big league ball park!"
I would, however, also
caution against striving for length -- control is more important. (Gregg
Maddox, a control pitcher, generally does better than Randy Johnson, a
speed pitcher.) In this case, the reader can be confused because the fragment
can also go with the following main clause: "And [RAVFwhen he took me over
to Woodstock,] I had some fun [RAVFbecause they had a party over
there.]"
Frag #04 -- Length and Complexity:
This could be an afterthought, but I have counted it as length because
the fragment consists of a subordinate clause that is parallel to that
in the preceding main clause and presents a second reason for the "fun."
This fragment could also be counted in the "subordination" category. Note,
by the way, that teaching students that a sentence consists of a subject
and a verb does not help them avoid these subordinate clause fragments
unless we also teach them to recognize and understand the function of subordinate
conjunctions.
Frag #05 -- Length and Complexity:
This is probably more the result of complexity than of length. The writer
may have had the entire "adult" version in STM: "Then
we would come back in town, go on the lot [RAJFwhere my friends are],
and stay there for about an hour." In haste to get it all down before it
was lost, the writer omittted the "we." The "adult" version, however,
is 22 words long, three words longer than the longest main clause in the
passage. The "adult" version given above views the fragment as the
third in a series of compound verbs, with the second verb in the series
being indirectly modified by a subordinate clause. The combination of length
and complexity tripped up the student. Theoretically,
confusion in STM reverberates after the error, which may account for the
"and hour" instead of "an hour."
RO #05 -- Careless: I'm counting this one
as careless, but the writer could have had amplification in mind: "My brother's
name is Tom -- he is almost tewenty-one." His STM may also have been
cluttered with the coming spelling of "twenty-one."
RO #06 -- Amplification (possibly subordination):
This
is an interesting one. Does "it has park and all that stuff in the floor"
give the details of how it is bad (amplification)? Or did the writer intend
this clause to explain, more directly, why it is bad ("because it
has park and all that stuff in the floor")? Note that whereas the run-on
suggests that the writer saw a connection between the two clauses, the
second in some way amplifying or explaining the first, the typical advice
given to students ("Use a period and a capital letter.") severs this connection.
RO #07 -- Amplification:
"My brother is nice to me [: or --] he takes me to dances when he goes."
Note the possible ambivalence between ambivalence and cause/effect: "My
brother is nice to me because he takes me to dances when he goes."
RO #08 -- Subordination: Note
that this would create a second-level embedding: "But
he can be nice sometime like [RNOPwhen he took me to see Chuck Brown over
at the dominion, [which was fun too]]."
RO #9 -- Amplification: It gives details
about "HBO." The best punctuation would be a dash or a colon. |