fragmented sentences

[ben11780]

I am a college freshman, and I have a hard time understanding what a fragment sentance is. Also, what exactly is a comma splice?

[MikeNewYork]

I am a college freshman, and I have a hard time understanding what a fragment sentance is. Also, what exactly is a comma splice?

A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence -- it is missing a verb and/or a subject or it is a dependent clause.

John drinking at the bar.
Walked to work.
Despite believing the man's story.

There are several types of run-on sentence. A comma splice is one of them.
A comma splice is two independent clauses separarted by nothing more than a comma.

John walked down the street, he saw a parrot fly out of somebody's window.

That should be:

1. John walked down the street; he saw a parrot fly out of somebody's window.
2. John walked down the street, and he saw a parrot fly out of somebody's window.
3. John walked down the street. He saw a parrot fly out of somebody's window.
4. As John walked down the street, he saw a parrot fly out of somebody's window.

A comma splice is acceptable only when the two clauses are intimately related and very short.

She wasn't there, I was.

Even there, a semicolon wouldn't hurt.