Fragments, Run-ons and There and Here

A fragment is a sentence that is missing a subject or verb, or it is a dependent clause that does not have an accompanying independent clause.

"While some of us wrote in our notebooks."--is a fragment because it's a dependent clause. Change it to "Some of us wrote in our notebooks," or add an independent clause.

--Here is a common fragment mistake.---
"I love stinky tofu. Which is great because I live in Taiwan."
The second sentence is actually a fragment. Just because it is obvious what you are saying doesn't mean that the sentence is okay. Get rid of the "which" to make the idea complete. For example, you could write: "This is great because I live in Taiwan." 'This' would be your subject because it means "My love for stinky tofu".


A run-on sentence tries to make more than one independent clause into one sentence incorrectly. Only a semicolon or coordinating conjunction can connect two independent clauses in one sentence.

"Rap music is great, I listen to it everyday." is a run-on sentence. Here is how to fix it:

"Rap music is great, so I listen to it every day." (coordinating conjunction)

"Rap music is great. I listen to it every day." (Two sentences)

"Rap music is great; I listen to it every day." (semicolon)

"I listen to rap music every day because rap music is great." (Independent clause plus dependent clause)

'There" and "Here" are NOT subjects.
If I write, "There is a lot of good stinky tofu in Taiwan," the subject is not "There"; the subject is "stinky tofu".

There and here "point to something". The above sentence says "Stinky tofu is prevalent in Taiwan."

Similarly, "Here are your test scores." The subject is "your test scores"; the sentence is saying "Your test scores are here."