While I agree with everybody that the target sentence is a fragment, I would
be very reluctant to mark it as such.  Fragments are often used as a
rhetorical device to emphasize or express an afterthought, and this seems
like the perfect example of such a usage.  When I encounter this in student
writing, I note that technically it is a fragment, but that it can be used
for rhetorical effect.  I read the sentence to the class, showing them how
intonation and pausing are used to achieve the effect orally.

Operationally, you can clearly demonstrate that the sentence is a fragment.
A fragment cannot be appended to "It's true that _________."  In this case,
the resulting sentence results in nonsense:

It's true that that is if you're lucky enough to not have your whole house
blown away.

However, Christine's other examples fit very nicely:

It's true that that is why I quit my job.
It's true that that is when you know you are in trouble.
etc.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: malessi
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 3/3/04 2:55 PM
Subject: Re: This seems like a fragment

And it would make no sense to say:  If you're lucky enough not to have
your whole house blow away, that is.

Marcia Alessi

On Wednesday, March 3, 2004, at 11:49 AM, Kathleen M. Ward wrote:

> I think the problem is that "That is" would be widely interpreted,
> not as part of the sentence, but as a "discourse connective" of some
> sort, rather like "however."   It does not seem to be a subject and
> verb here.  It's clearer if you put (and I think you should put) a
> comma after the phrase.
>
> That is, if you're lucky enough not to have your whole house blow
away.
>
> And  "f you're lucky enough not to have your whole house blow away"
> is certainly a fragment--an embedded question clause.
>
>
>
>> A student wrote this in an essay.
>>
>> "It's important to prepare your house for a hurricane, so you won't
>> come
>> home to a mess when you return.  That is if you're lucky enough to
>> not have
>> your whole house blown away."
>> "
>> Another teacher looking at my papers pointed out to me that the
second
>> sentence is a fragment. I agreed at first, but then I wondered why.
>>
>> "That is if you're lucky enough to not have your whole house blown
>> away."
>>
>> "That"  = subject.
>> "is"  = verb
>> "if............... blown away"  = noun clause???
>>
>> I thought of these examples, but they seem different somehow. Are
>> these
>> fragments too?
>>
>>
>> That is why I quit my job.
>> That is when you know you are in trouble.
>> That is whom I voted for.
>> That is who got my vote.
>>
>> "If" can introduce a noun clause but there is not a "that" beginning
>> the
>> main clause usually.
>>
>> I wondered if my house would be blown away.
>> That will tell me if my house is still standing.
>>
>> If it's a fragment, should it be connected to the preceding one with
>> a comma
>> between.
>> Is it considered as aside. How is it labeled? I don't know how to
>> explain
>> this. Is there a name for that type of clause? What does "that" refer
>> to in
>> the independent clause?
>>
>> It's important to prepare your house for a hurricane, so you won't
>> come home
>> to a mess when you return, that is if you're lucky enough to not have
>> your
>> whole house blown away.
>>
>>
>> -
>>
>> Christine Reintjes Martin
>> [log in to unmask]
>>

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