Even if you weren't reading a graphic novel that uses specific Rorschach-dedicated typeface, you would instantly recognize Rorschach as the speaker just from the style of the dialogue. Moore uses the fragments to show Rorschach's unique mindset and point of view. Looked at sky through smoke heavy with human fat and God was not there ("The Abyss Gazes Also" 26). Felt dark planet turn under my feet and knew what cats know that makes them scream like babies in night. Bloodstain on chest like map of violent new continent. In Watchmen by Alan Moore, Rorschach rarely speaks or writes in complete sentences.Įxample: Stood in firelight, sweltering. Using fragments in dialogue can establish a character's mood or it can simply be a unique way that character has of speaking. Morpheus is thinking in snapshots, not in complete sentences McCarthy is using fragments to express the desolation of the landscape and the bleakness of the characters' circumstances. In this passage, as in the McCarthy examples, fragments are being used to establish the tone or mood of the story. Random Lonely Fragment: Long, soft beams of moonlight.įragment(s) Used Poetically in Context: Morpheus, Lord of the Dreaming, perused his domain with a satisfied gleam in his starry eyes. McCarthy makes using fragments look easy, but they're actually tricky, and it's important to establish context before you go throwing them around all willy-nilly. In both of these paragraphs, only the opening sentence is complete the rest are fragments. A half pint bottle of gasoline almost full. Shrouded in carbon fog (112).Įxample 2: He sat in the sand and inventoried the contents of the knapsack. Dead ivy along a stone wall and a mailbox and a fence along the road and the dead trees beyond. Is it possible to play with these hard-and-fast rules of grammar? Of course it is, but tread carefully!Ĭormac McCarthy is a master of the descriptive fragment, so let's look at a few examples from The Road:Įxample 1: Across the field to the south he could see the shape of a house and a barn. Like our lonely verbs in earlier examples, it forms part of a thought, but not a complete one. Without the main clause, the dependent clause is bereft of context. Sentence: I'm happy that it'll snow tomorrow.Īs you can see, the "fragment" examples are actually a part of the longer "sentence" examples. Sentence: Jane ran because it was getting dark. That sounds a little scary, but here are a few examples: It depends on the main clause of the sentence, and it can't (or usually shouldn't) exist on its own. If so, you've got yourself a sentence if not, you might need to rethink it.Īnother type of sentence fragment is the dependent clause. Often an exclamation point is used in place of a period, but the best clue is to ask yourself if the lone verb is urging or commanding a listener to actively do something. Imperatives are conjugated as the second person present tense, without the subject. Imperatives are more complicated in English than other languages because there's no specific verb tense to indicate it. In the fragment example, we have a lone verb, feeling lonely. In the first, correct example, the reader understands that the speaker is commanding someone to run. This type of sentence is called an imperative. The subject doesn't have to be explicitly stated in the sentence it can be understood. They're just words, hanging out, with no real purpose or context. It's a "complete thought."Īs you can see in the above examples, the sentences have a subject-"Jane" or "It"-while the fragments don't. In its most basic definition, a complete sentence must contain a subject (noun or pronoun) and a verb. How you form sentences and how they flow together not only reflect your skill and style as a writer, but also can be used to relay the general tone of your story (in descriptive writing) or a speaker's mood (in dialogue). The sentence is the basis of any writing.
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