Week 6, Session 12 — Grammar I: Sentence Boundaries (L.2.2, L.2.4, W.3)

A large share of GED® editing questions test one skill: knowing where a sentence should begin and end. Master sentence boundaries and you fix fragments, run-ons, and comma splices in seconds -- and you write a cleaner Extended Response. The whole topic rests on one building block: the clause.

The building block: clauses

[missing figure: sentence_boundary]

• An independent clause (IC) has a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought. It can stand alone as a sentence: The bus arrived.
• A dependent clause (DC) begins with a subordinator (because, when, although, since, if, while) and cannot stand alone: Because the bus arrived -- and then what? It leaves you hanging.

Four correct ways to join two independent clauses

When you have two complete thoughts, you may join them in exactly four clean ways:

That is the complete menu. If a join does not match one of these four, it is an error.

The three errors

• Fragment -- a piece pretending to be a sentence; it is missing a subject, a verb, or a complete thought. Running down the street. (Who?) Because she was late. (Then what?)
• Run-on (fused sentence) -- two ICs jammed together with no punctuation. The bus arrived we got on.
• Comma splice -- two ICs joined by only a comma. The bus arrived, we got on. A comma is too weak to hold two complete thoughts; it needs a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus a FANBOYS word.

An editing passage (sentences numbered)

> (1) The community garden started with a single raised bed behind the library. (2) Because the soil downtown was poor and full of broken glass. (3) Volunteers hauled in bags of compost they worked every Saturday from April to October. (4) The first tomatoes were small, the carrots were even smaller. (5) Still, the gardeners were thrilled, and neighbors began to stop by with questions. (6) By the second summer the garden had grown to twelve beds, the waiting list for a plot was a page long. (7) The garden taught more than gardening; it taught patience.

Diagnosing the boundaries

• Sentence 1 is a clean, complete sentence -- leave it.
• Sentence 2 is a fragment. "Because the soil downtown was poor and full of broken glass" is a dependent clause with no main clause to complete it. Fix: attach it to sentence 1 ("...behind the library, because the soil downtown was poor...") or add a main clause.
• Sentence 3 is a run-on: "Volunteers hauled in bags of compost" and "they worked every Saturday" are two ICs fused with no punctuation. Fix: a period, a semicolon, or "...compost, and they worked every Saturday..."
• Sentence 4 is a comma splice: "The first tomatoes were small" and "the carrots were even smaller" are two ICs joined by only a comma. Fix: a semicolon, or "...small, and the carrots were even smaller."
• Sentence 5 is correct: "the gardeners were thrilled, and neighbors began to stop by" uses comma + FANBOYS properly.
• Sentence 6 is a comma splice (two ICs joined by a comma); fix with a semicolon or comma + FANBOYS.
• Sentence 7 is correct: a semicolon joins two closely linked ICs.

The traps

• Comma Looks Friendly. A comma between two complete thoughts feels natural but is a splice. Ask: are both sides complete sentences? If yes, a comma alone is not enough.
• "Because" Hides a Fragment. A clause that starts with because, since, although needs a main clause attached, or it is a fragment.
• Adding "anyways" or fixing the wrong thing. Fix the boundary, not the wording, unless asked.

Independent practice: Rewrite sentences 2, 3, 4, and 6 from the passage so each is correct, using a different one of the four joining methods at least once. Label the method you used for each.

Exit ticket: Write one correct compound sentence using a comma + a FANBOYS conjunction.