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It's easier much to identify and repair fragments and comma splices out of context, in individual sentences where you're expecting them. If you've tried the exercises on each of those pages, you might also want to try looking for both errors in these passages, where they're mixed together. This is a more like what it will feel like to look for complete sentence problems as you reread your own or someone else's work.
Exercises: Try It Yourself
Exercises: Try It Yourself
Find and repair all fragments and comma splices in the following passages. Assume a formal register, so that all fragments and comma splices will be seen as inappropriate and should be eliminated.
1. Relatively few first-semester college students have a very clear idea about what they want to pursue as a career, however almost all of them these days enroll in college mainly because they expect their degree to improve their chances of getting a good job. The idea of getting an education for the sake of education alone seems almost extinct. The quaint reminder of a day long since passed. No one goes to school anymore because they want to think about things, everybody wants “training” and “credentials.” It is not a shift in students' attitudes alone, however, that is responsible for this. Colleges and universities have responded to the ever-intensifying market for higher education by promising economic success to graduates, these institutions themselves clearly operate more as corporations with explicit market strategies than they once did.
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Relatively few first-semester college students have a very clear idea about what they want to pursue as a career; however, almost all of them these days enroll in college mainly because they expect their degree to improve their chances of getting a good job. The idea of getting an education for the sake of education alone seems almost extinct, the quaint reminder of a day long since passed. No one goes to school anymore because they want to think about things; everybody wants “training” and “credentials.” It is not a shift in students' attitudes alone, however, that is responsible for this. Colleges and universities have responded to the ever-intensifying market for higher education by promising economic success to graduates. These institutions themselves clearly operate more as corporations with explicit market strategies than they once did.
2. Michelle wanted desperately to return the gift. A really stupid candleholder she’d never found a place for. The mall was far from her house, she drove there anyway. When she got there, a security guard quickly approached her. A frail, 105-pound woman with a JC Penny bag. She couldn’t have seemed very threatening. Though this didn’t stop him from giving her a hard time. Later, the clerk at the store, who seemed to know almost nothing about store policies and procedures, refused to give her a refund. It turned out to be a really tough day, sometimes you’re better off just staying home.
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Michelle wanted desperately to return the gift, a really stupid candleholder she’d never found a place for. The mall was far from her house, but she drove there anyway. When she got there, a security guard quickly approached her. A frail, 105-pound woman with a JC Penny bag, she couldn’t have seemed very threatening, though this didn’t stop him from giving her a hard time. Later, the clerk at the store, who seemed to know almost nothing about store policies and procedures, refused to give her a refund. It turned out to be a really tough day. Sometimes you’re better off just staying home.
3. Democracy is over, you'd have to be willfully blind not to see it. Elections today are routinely bought and paid for. With all those campaign ads funded by all those corporate interests. The famous Citizens United case, which extended "free speech rights" to corporations possessing nearly infinite resources for influencing popular opinion, has made an absolute mockery of the democratic process. And the 1987 repeal of the Fairness Doctrine has been just as damaging. It's as if no one believes that there is such a thing as the public good any longer, who can stand to watch?
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Democracy is over. You'd have to be willfully blind not to see it. Elections today are routinely bought and paid for, with all those campaign ads funded by all those corporate interests. The famous Citizens United case, which extended "free speech rights" to corporations possessing nearly infinite resources for influencing popular opinion, has made an absolute mockery of the democratic process, and the 1987 repeal of the Fairness Doctrine has been just as damaging. It's as if no one believes that there is such a thing as the public good any longer; who can stand to watch?
4. Bank failures are always extremely worrisome, even those who know nothing about economics seem to sense trouble when a bank fails. It certainly would cause all kinds of problems if the government didn’t step in to bail out the bank. But it also seems to me interesting how little noise people make about this kind of thing. Especially the people who complain the most about how individuals should take responsibility for their own finances. About how the social services system is giving away all “our” money. Where were they when the last set of bank executives got their seven-figure bonuses? I’ll never quite understand this, it amazes me.
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Bank failures are always extremely worrisome; even those who know nothing about economics seem to sense trouble when a bank fails. It certainly would cause all kinds of problems if the government didn’t step in to bail out the bank. It also seems to me interesting, however, how little noise people make about this kind of thing, especially the people who complain the most about how individuals should take responsibility for their own finances, about how the social services system is giving away all “our” money. Where were they when the last set of bank executives got their seven-figure bonuses? I’ll never quite understand this. It amazes me.
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