Because my children were sick and I was up all night.

[birgit33]

"Because my children were sick and I was up all night." Why is this a fragment ? It has a dependent clause "Because my children were sick" and an independent clause "I was up all night". Where do I go wrong ?

[Barb_D]

You went wrong with the "and" which links to independent clauses.

Change that "and" to a comma and you're in business.

Delete the "because" and leave the "and" and you're good too.

[Gillnetter]

"Because my children were sick and I was up all night." Why is this a fragment ? It has a dependent clause "Because my children were sick" and an independent clause "I was up all night". Where do I go wrong ?

What do you think "and" does in the sentence? Try it without the "and".
Because my children were sick I was up all night.

[rainous]

Not a teacher-

The only circumstance in which your original text can work
is when you add something at the end like:

Because my children were sick and I was up all night, I got sick too.
(talking about a real catch 22!!!)

Then you are open for business(?).

[Gillnetter]

Not a teacher-

The only circumstance in which your original text can work
is when you add something at the end like:

Because my children were sick and I was up all night, I got sick too.


Then you are open for business(?).

What if you added something at the beginning?

[rainous]

What if you added something at the beginning?

Then you gonna have to lowercase "B".

[5jj]

Then you gonna have to lowercase "B".

I'll forgive you your 'you gonna' for that.

[rainous]

I'll forgive you your 'you gonna' for that.

Much obliged, Sir.

[Barb_D]

For the record, I do know my first post should have had "two" instead of "to" and I appreciate anyone who charitably thought I meant "linking to."

[5jj]

For the record, I do know my first post should have had "two" instead of "to" and I appreciate anyone who charitably thought I meant "linking to."

I just uncharitably ignored it. I am not going to condone sneaky attempts to build up your record of typos. I am the undisputed heavyweight tpyo champion of the usingebglish.com forum, and will remain so for many years yeti.