Get Great Grammar: Part III: Explanatory Fragments

Introduction - Get great grammar

So far, you have learned about sentence and phrase fragments, and fragments that begin with ‘-ing’ words/gerunds and ‘to’.

In this article, I will teach you to recognise and correct explanatory fragments so that your writing will improve.

Explanatory Fragments

So, what is an explanatory fragment. It has something to do with explaining something, right?

Yes, an explanatory fragment provides an explanation about a previous sentence and is missing a subject, a complete verb, or both.

This kind of fragment begins with one of the following words.

For example …

Also …

For instance …

As well as …

Especially …

Such as …

Particularly … (or ‘In particular’)

Including …

Like … (or ‘Just like’)

Except … (or ‘all except’)

Examples

Here are some examples of explanatory fragments, which are underlined.

Fragment: Scientists say climate change can be reversed by lowering emissions of gases. For example, carbon dioxide.

Fragment: “You could describe your nouns with adjectives. Such as ‘beautiful’ or ‘lovely’.

Correcting Explanatory Fragments

To correct explanatory fragments, add the missing words, or join the explanation or example to the previous, or another sentence.

By adding words:

Scientists say climate change can be reversed by lowering emissions of gases. For example, carbon dioxide emitted from car exhausts could be reduced by a transition to electric vehicles.

By joining sentences:

“You could describe your nouns with adjectives such as ‘beautiful’ or ‘lovely’.”

Conclusion

In this short article, I have explained explanatory fragments, the third kind of fragment that needs to be recognised and corrected to help you get great grammar for writing in English. In the next, and final article on this topic, I will teach you about Dependent Clause Fragments.

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(c) Apex English Tutoring Jan 2021 - Updated Nov 2023

About the Author

Michael Finemore, MA (Research) CQU, TEFL/TESOL Certificate, an experienced English Teacher, is the Owner-Operator of Apex English Tutoring.