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Grammar Bytes: Fragments

Details

Activity Description

In this activity, students practice their skills in identifying sentence fragments. There are seven interactive exercises each with its own worksheet. Most exercises have twenty questions. This activity works well in a computer lab or as a classroom presentation.

Exercises at Grammar Bytes

Grammar Bytes: Fragments-1

Grammar Bytes is a contemporary looking site with an Index of Grammar Terms, Interactive Exercises with accompanying Handouts For students, and Grammar Rules. It includes PowerPoint presentations that will cut down on your preparation time and a few YouTube videos. It makes a difficult topic enjoyable.

Grammar Bytes exercises cover the following topics:

  • Comma Splices &Fused Sentences
  • Fragments
  • Irregular Verbs
  • Commas
  • Parallel Structure
  • Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
  • Apostrophes
  • Pronoun Agreement
  • Pronoun Case
  • Pronoun Reference
  • Subject-Verb Agreement
  • Word Choice

Preparation

  1. Make sure the site is not blocked at your school.
  2. Preview the site. It includes terms, exercises, handouts, and PowerPoint presentations; however, this activity focuses on fragment exercises.
  3. Decide which exercises you will use.
  4. Download and print the worksheets needed for the selected exercises.
  5. Create a formative quiz to check for understanding.

Teacher Tips

  • Review the exercise questions to make sure you agree with the answers.

More Ways

  • Divide the class into groups and have teams play against each other to answer each exercise question. This works well if you only have one computer and a projector.
  • Is Canvas Instructure your learning management system? Try one of our new modules! Search "Grammar Bytes!" in the Commons. Each module includes five 10-item quizzes and other materials that you can import into a course.

Program Areas

  • ASE: High School Diploma

Lesson Plan

Warm-up
Engagement

•    Begin with a quick, interactive game called "Fragment or Complete?"
•    Display sentences on the board (mix of fragments and complete sentences).
•    Students hold up a green card for complete sentences and a red card for fragments.
•    Briefly discuss why the fragment examples are incomplete.

Introduction

•    Introduce the concept of sentence fragments.
•    Explain why sentence fragments can make writing unclear.
•    Show an engaging short video that introduces sentence fragments.
•    Highlight the Grammar Bytes website and its resources.

Presentation

•    Walk through examples of sentence fragments and how to correct them.
•    Use a handout from Grammar Bytes to illustrate common types of fragments (e.g., dependent clauses, missing subjects).
•    Demonstrate using the "Explanation" links on the Grammar Bytes exercise page.

Practice
Engagement

•    Complete the first three questions from the Grammar Bytes fragment exercise as a class, emphasizing how to use the explanation feature.
•    If available, have students work individually or in pairs on additional exercises in a computer lab.
•    If technology is limited, divide the class into groups and turn the exercise into a competitive game using a projector.

Evaluation

•    Administer a short formative quiz with sentences that require identifying and correcting fragments.
•    Review answers as a class to clarify misunderstandings.
•    Fill in any gaps in understanding with additional examples or exercises if necessary.

Application
Engagement Enhancement Extension

•    Have students write a short paragraph on a given topic.
•    In pairs, students review each other’s work to identify and correct any fragments.
•    Volunteers can share sentences with the class for group correction.

Documents

Subjects

  • English Language Arts
    • English 1-4

Tags

Grammar, adjectives, adverbs, capitalization, chomp chomp, chompchomp, comma splices, coordination and subordination, fragments, fused sentences, grammar bytes, grammarbytes, misplaced modifiers, misused words, parallel structure, parts of speech, prefix, pronoun reference, pronoun shift, pronouns, punctuation, sentence, sentence fragments, spelling, subject-verb agreement, suffix, tense shifts, verb forms

Creative Commons License

CC BY-NC-ND
CC BY-NC-ND:This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

Conditions

Terms of Use You may not alter these materials, sell them, or upload them—either in full or in part—to a different server or learning management system. How simple is that! Photocopying for students or linking to materials at this site does not require my permission.

AI Reference

AI was used to reformat this lesson in the WIPPEA format
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OTAN activities are funded by contract CN240137 from the Adult Education Office, in the Career & College Transition Division, California Department of Education, with funds provided through Federal P.L., 105-220, Section 223. However, OTAN content does not necessarily reflect the position of that department or the U.S. Department of Education.