Types of incomplete sentences

In my previous post about English sentence structure, I talked about combining complete sentences with incomplete sentences.

There are actually many types of incomplete sentences. Here are the main ones:

1. Starts with a subordinator
I talked about these in my previous post.

even though I’m so hungry (incomplete)
–> Even though I’m so hungry, I don’t want to eat.
–> I don’t want to eat even though I’m so hungry.
–> I, even though I’m so hungry, don’t want to eat.

2. Transitions 

Transitions are words or groups of words that are used to connect ideas. However, unlike the subordinators and “fanboys” connectors I described in my previous post, transitions don’t really “do” anything grammatically. 

however
–> However, we haven’t fixed the problem yet.
–> We haven’t fixed the problem yet, however.
–> We haven’t, however, fixed the problem yet.

Here’s how you use transitions to connect ideas between two sentences:
–> We made good progress yesterday. However, we haven’t fixed the problem yet.
–> We made good progress yesterday. We haven’t fixed the problem yet, however.
–> We made good progress yesterday. We haven’t, however, fixed the problem yet.

Do not use transitions to “glue” two sentences together.
–> We made good progress yesterday, however, we haven’t fixed the problem yet. (WRONG)

3. When

after dinner
–> After dinner, I studied for five hours.
–> I studied for five hours after dinner.
–> I studied, after dinner, for five hours.

4. Where

under the bed
–> Under the bed, there was a huge spider.
–> There was a huge spider under the bed.
–> There was, under the bed, a huge spider.

5. How

Slowly but steadily
–> Slowly but steadily, he pushed the car up the hill.
–> He pushed the car up the hill, slowly but steadily.
–> He pushed the car, slowly but steadily, up the hill.

6. Why

Due to her poor grades
–> Due to her poor grades, she will not be able to enter university.
–> She will not be able to enter university due to her poor grades.
–> She will not be able, due to her poor grades, to enter university.

7. Extra information about a noun
The extra information should go right after the noun.

a city in British Columbia, Canada
–> Kelowna, a city in British Columbia, Canada, is known for its Ogopogo monster. (extra information about Kelowna)
–> A city in British Columbia, Canada, Kelowna is known for its Ogopogo monster. (This is very formal!)
–> I really like Kelowna, a city in British Columbia, Canada.

8. Extra information about a whole sentence

which isn’t good
–> I haven’t been exercising lately, which isn’t good.

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Notes:

You’ll notice that I didn’t describe the grammar of most of these incomplete sentences. Instead, I focused on what they do (their function).

A lot of students hate hearing about prepositional phrases, adverb clauses, adjective clauses, noun clauses, noun phrases, etc. For many students it’s easier to just think “I should give some extra information about how, when, why, etc. by adding an incomplete sentence.”  

I’m not saying it’s wrong to teach grammatical terms, but maybe it’s a good idea not to teach those terms until students are at quite a high level (and age).

Next post: Tips for recognizing incomplete sentences.

English sentence structure

When teachers try to explain how English sentences work, they usually make it way too complicated. I’m going to give you the short and easy version.

There are basically four types of sentences in English:

1) complete sentence
–> eg: I like cheese.

A complete sentence has to have a subject (a noun) and a verb. It may also have some other words to complete the thought of the verb.

2) complete sentence + complete sentence
–> eg: I like cheese, but my brother likes ham.

You need to use one of the seven “fanboys” (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) to connect two complete sentences. There are no other words that can be used to connect two complete sentences.

3) 
–> eg: I like cheese because I am a cheesy person.

The incomplete sentence (“because I am a cheesy person”) can’t stand on its own. It needs to be “hooked” onto the complete sentence (“I like cheese”).

Why is “because I am a cheesy person” an incomplete sentence? It’s because the word because is a “subordinator.” A subordinator is a word that makes a sentence incomplete.

There are a LOT of subordinators in English. Some common ones are: although, even though, since, so that, when, while, before, while, whenever, if, unless, whether, as.

Additionally, you can put the incomplete sentence before the complete sentence.

–> eg: Because I am a cheesy person, I like cheese. (You need a comma here.)

You can also put the incomplete sentence in the middle of the complete sentence.

–> eg: I, because I am a cheesy person, like cheese. (You need two commas here.)

4) complete sentence + complete sentence
                  ^ incomplete sentence
–> eg: I like cheese because I am a cheesy person, but my brother likes ham.

Sentence type 4 is just a combination of sentence types 2 and 3.

Additionally, you can move the complete and incomplete sentences around:
–> eg: Because I am a cheesy person, I like cheese, but my brother likes ham.

You can also keep adding more and more complete and incomplete sentences.
–> eg: I like cheese because I am a cheesy person, but my brother likes ham because he is a hammy person.
–> eg: I like cheese because I am a cheesy person, but my brother likes ham because he is a hammy person, although I don’t really know what that means. (This sentence is kind of long, but the grammar is technically correct.)

Next post: Other types of incomplete sentences.

MyDictionary Translator – Internet browser extension

MyDictionary Translator is my new favourite internet browser extension for Google Chrome.

Unfortunately, there is no Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer version of MyDictionary Translator!

How it works:
1. When you are surfing the Internet, you can double-click on a word to see its definition/translation and hear its pronunciation.
2. The word and the sentence you saw it in automatically get saved to a kind of personal “notebook.”
3. You can later review, sort, and perform searches on your personal notebook.

You can choose which language(s) you want MyDictionary Translator to show.

Lang-8.com – writing website

Lang-8.com is a free website for language learners who want to improve their writing.

Here’s how it works:
1. Post in the language you are learning.
2. Native speakers correct your writing for you.
3. Help others learn your native language (by correcting their journals for them).

I’m learning Japanese, so I sometimes use Lang-8.com to practice my Japanese writing. I also use it to ask questions about Japanese grammar or when I just need someone to proofread an email for me. Very handy!

Lingq.com – reading & listening website

Lingq.com is a very cool site for learning a language!

Here’s how it works:
1. Listen to/read one of the lessons/articles on the website.
2. Click on words you don’t know to see the definition/translation.
3. Highlight the words you don’t know in yellow.
4. The next time you see the word on the website, it’ll still be highlighted in yellow.
5. Download the audio and listen to it again many times.
6. Review words you’ve studied. (The site makes flashcards for you.)

The best thing about this website is that there is a lot of content with both listening and reading. Listening + reading at the same time is very good for learning a language.

However, Lingq.com is not really free. You can use it for free for a while, but after a certain point you will need to pay.