Brenda Campbell asked how to get her secretaries to recognize sentence
fragments.
 
I suggest the shortcut of having them use the conversational device of
adding a tag question, like this.  (Don't I?)
The tag question refers to the essentials of a sentence.  (Doesn't it?)
Its verb refers to the sentence's verb, and  its pronoun refers to the
subject.  (Don't they?)
If it is not possible to ask a tag question, the statement is not complete.
 (Is it?)
Therefore, a fragment    (??? no tag, no sentence)
Therefore, it's a fragment.  (Isn't it?)
  
Carolyn Hartnett
 
College of the Mainland
Texas City, TX
 
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