Sentence vs Fragment?

Question

please tell me if the following are sentences are complete sentences or fragments:

Whose signature appears on the purchase order sent to that company?

Print or type your new address on the label from a recent issue.

Carefully studied the proposal before issuing a statement about it.

As long as you have a strong interest in the matter!



Please copy/paste the sentences/fragments and state if they are complete sentences or fragments. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

the only fragment is this one:

Carefully studied the proposal before issuing a statement about it.

Answer 2

Whose signature appears on the purchase order sent to that company? ***Yes, this is correct. If you change the question mark to a period, it becomes a dependent clause and incorrect.***

Print or type your new address on the label from a recent issue. *** This is correct. You don't need a subject pronoun with an imperative sentence. (The subject is understood to be "You.") ***

Carefully studied the proposal before issuing a statement about it. *** This is missing a subject. Depending on the context, this could be an ellipse. It might be fine if the preceding sentence had been "What did he do at the conference?" As is, I'd say this is incorrect because it needs a subject. ***


As long as you have a strong interest in the matter! ***The prepositional phrase "As long as" introduces a dependent clause. What you have here is a dependent clause. I'd say this was incorrect. If you prefixed the string with something to complete the thought, it might be all right. "I defer to you, as long as you have a strong interest in the matter" would be fine because you have the independent clause in the complete sentence.

To get a better grasp on this, try Strunk and White's classic "Elements of Style" or "The Gregg Reference Manual," both excellent resources.

Answer 3

Whose signature appears on the purchase order sent to that company?
sentence (question form)

Print or type your new address on the label from a recent issue.
sentence (imperative)

Carefully studied the proposal before issuing a statement about it.
fragment (unless "Carefully" is someone's name, otherwise it doesn't have a subject)

As long as you have a strong interest in the matter!
fragment ("as long as" makes it a dependent clause)

Answer 4

Whose signature appears on the purchase order sent to that company? sentence

Print or type your new address on the label from a recent issue. sentence

Carefully studied the proposal before issuing a statement about it. fragment

As long as you have a strong interest in the matter! sentence

Answer 5

The first one is trick because if it said "Who's signature.....?" that would be a complete sentence (a question or interrogative). Since it uses "whose" its not a complete sentence because "whose" is not a noun.

The second one is a sentence because even though it doesn't say who the subject is it implies "you".

There's no subject in the "carefully studied...." one - so fragment.

The last one is also a fragment because of the "as long as you have" part. (As long as you have a strong interest in the matter what??????") If it didn't have the "as long as" in it, and was just, "you have a strong interest in the matter" it would have been a statement.