College Composition / Unit 3 CMP 0062 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Spotting Boundary Errors in a Paragraph
The idea
Boundary errors are easiest to find by checking a paragraph one sentence at a time rather than by reading it straight through.
In practice
Work in order. First, read each sentence alone, from its capital letter to its end mark. Second, ask whether it has a subject and a verb and can stand alone; if not, it is a fragment. Third, count its independent clauses. Fourth, if there are two or more, check what joins them: a period, a semicolon, or a comma with a coordinating conjunction is correct; a comma alone is a splice; nothing at all is a run-on. Fifth, check sentences that begin with because, although, which or such as, since these begin most fragments.
Where people slip
Reading backward, last sentence first, keeps you from following the meaning and helps you see each sentence's grammar. The ear smooths over splices that the eye can catch.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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