GLOW: Grammar Lessons On the Web

For the exclusive use of employees of the U.S. Department of State--by Tillyer Associates

Writing in complete sentences

It is not always necessary to speak in complete sentences in informal situations.
However, good writers know that they need to write in complete sentences.
Complete sentences express a complete thought and they have four elements:

·         a capital letter (begins the sentence)

·         end punctuation (period [.], question mark [?], or exclamation point [!])

·         a subject

·         a verb

Subject

Verb 

Object

Complement

People 

used to take

 trains

more than they do now.

A sentence can be complete without an object or a complement, but it must have a subject and a verb. Without both a subject and a verb, it is called a sentence fragment.
 

Complete sentence:

The first successful locomotive ran on 9 miles of track in England in 1804.

Sentence fragment:

The first successful locomotive. (no verb)

Sentence fragment:

On 9 miles of track. (no subject, no verb)

Here are some more sentence fragments along with successfully completed sentences.

Sentence fragment:

More than 1,000 miles of railroad track in the U.S. by 1835.

Complete sentence:

There was more than 1,000 miles of railroad track in the U.S. by 1835.


 

Sentence fragment:

By 1850, 9,000 miles.

Complete sentence:

By 1850, the figure had risen to 9,000 miles.

Created fragments

All these sentence fragments are more or less accidental. They are often acceptable in speaking, but not in writing. However, be careful not to create fragments by adding a subordinator: although, before, after, despite, because…

Sentence fragment:

Because most of the U.S. population was in the Northeast.

Complete sentence:

Because most of the U.S. population was in the Northeast, most of the train tracks were in the Northeast.

These words are called subordinators because they subordinate (lower) independent clauses to dependent clauses.
 

Independent clause:

The federal government gave land to the states for railroad development.

Dependent clause:
Sentence fragment:

When the federal government gave land to the states for railroad development.

Complete sentence:

All that changed when the federal government gave land to the states for railroad development.

Subordinators make independent clauses into dependent clauses. A dependent clause, standing alone, is a sentence fragment. Here's another example:
 

Independent clause:

They joined the western railroad with the eastern railroad at Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869.

Dependent clause:
Sentence fragment:

As they joined the western railroad with the eastern railroad at Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869.

Complete sentence:

The transcontinental railroad was born as they joined the western railroad with the eastern railroad at Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869.

 

Note: When a dependent clause comes first in the sentence, it is necessary to add a comma. It is not necessary to add a comma when the independent clause comes first.

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