fragments or run on sentences
He's going to law school. To be an attorney like his mother Fragment
She was the worst student in her class. Because she got all the lowest grades. Run on senence
The second sentence in your first example is a fragment.
The second sentence in the second example is also a fragment. It can't be a run on because there is a period after the first sentence.
To determine whether a sentence is a fragment or a run-on sentence, we need to look at the structure and cohesion of the sentence.
A fragment is an incomplete sentence that lacks either a subject, a verb, or a complete thought. In the example provided, "He's going to law school. To be an attorney like his mother," the second sentence, "To be an attorney like his mother," is a fragment because it lacks a subject. To fix the fragment, we can either combine the two sentences or complete the fragment. For example:
1. He's going to law school to be an attorney like his mother. (Combining the two sentences)
2. To be an attorney like his mother is his goal. (Completing the fragment)
On the other hand, a run-on sentence occurs when two or more independent clauses are incorrectly joined without appropriate punctuation or coordinating conjunctions. In the example given, "She was the worst student in her class because she got all the lowest grades," it is a run-on sentence. To fix the run-on sentence, we can use appropriate punctuation or conjunction to separate the independent clauses. For instance:
1. She was the worst student in her class because she got all the lowest grades. (Using a period to create two separate sentences)
2. She was the worst student in her class because she got all the lowest grades, but she still managed to pass. (Using a coordinating conjunction "but" to join the independent clauses)
By identifying and understanding the rules for sentence structure, we can determine whether a sentence is a fragment or a run-on sentence, and then appropriately revise it for clarity and grammatical accuracy.