Phaedrus
Banned
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2012
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- United States
1) If only it would rain.
2) If only he would stop the invasion.
3) If only enrollment were higher.
I'm having students take a test in which they are to identify word strings (actual uses of English in Irving Shulman's West Side Story) as simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, compound-complex sentences, fragments, or run-ons. I have used an "if only"-example ("If only his father had been alive to see the change.") as an example of a fragment.
I'm just interested to know whether you agree that such sentences are technically fragments. I plan to remind my students, at the outset of the exam, that if they find a fragment or a run-on, that doesn't necessarily mean that the sentence is "bad." In the case of "if only"-sentences, there is the sense of completeness even though, grammatically, they just consist of a dependent clause.
2) If only he would stop the invasion.
3) If only enrollment were higher.
I'm having students take a test in which they are to identify word strings (actual uses of English in Irving Shulman's West Side Story) as simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, compound-complex sentences, fragments, or run-ons. I have used an "if only"-example ("If only his father had been alive to see the change.") as an example of a fragment.
I'm just interested to know whether you agree that such sentences are technically fragments. I plan to remind my students, at the outset of the exam, that if they find a fragment or a run-on, that doesn't necessarily mean that the sentence is "bad." In the case of "if only"-sentences, there is the sense of completeness even though, grammatically, they just consist of a dependent clause.