Identifying Subjects and Fragments

Question

Hello, I have a difficult time in identifying fragments and subjects.

(Chewing the dry, tough, whole-grain bread bought from the health food store. Lorena tried to enjoy her lunch. Fantasizing about a juicy cheeseburger on a soft white bun didn't improve the taste of the soy product sandwiched between leaves of organic lettuce.)

(Chewing the dry, tough, whole-grain bread bought from the health food store) This is the fragmented part of the speech because it lacks a main clause. I know this because the answer sheet told me so (lol). However, is it not a complete sentence because - Chewing is the subject, but there is no verb and completed thought? Why would chewing be the subject?

(Fantasizing about a juicy cheeseburger on a soft white bun didn't improve the taste of the soy product sandwiched between leaves of organic lettuce) This one is a completed sentence. However, Why would fantasizing be the subject?

Chewing the dry, tough, whole-grain bread bought from the health food store was not satisfying. (Does this addition makes it a complete sentence now?)

I'm sorry. i'm very confuse. I don't even know what a subject is. I'm confuse, partly, because I thought a subject is suppose to identify a person?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Anonymous Chewing is the subject, but there is no verb and completed thought? Why would chewing be the subject?

Chewing is not the subject. It is not a noun, but a modifier (some grammarians would classify it as a non-finite verb.)

Subjects answer the question who? or what?

eg.
1) John loves Mary.
Question:
Who loves Mary? - Answer: ..... (The subject)

2) Baseball is our favorite sport.
Question:
What is our favorite sport? - Answer: ..... (The subject)

3) Here is an example of chewing as a subject:

Chewing a soft plastic ring helps a baby cut his first teeth.

What helps a baby when he is getting his first teeth? Answer: ..... (The subject)

AnonymousChewing the dry, tough, whole-grain bread bought from the health food store was not satisfying. (Does this addition makes it a complete sentence now?)

Yes.
The verb is "was."
Chewing (that horrible bread) was not satisfying.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousChewing the dry, tough, whole-grain bread bought from the health food store.

This is a fragment because it is not a finite clause. As you put it, "it lacks a main clause". That's correct.

AnonymousChewing is the subject, but there is no verb and completed thought? Why would chewing be the subject?

Actually it's not clear whether it's a subject or not because there's no finite verb to go with it. With a fragment you can't say for sure what anything really is; there is no complete sentence from which to make a judgment. This fragment could act as a subject if you added a verb phrase*; it could act as a participial clause if you added a complete sentence; it could act as a direct object if you added an appropriate subject and verb; it could act as a subject complement if you added a subject and linking verb. Parsing a fragment is pretty much a useless task. It involves a lot of tedious guess work.

*Your version below illustrates this possibility.
Chewing the dry, tough, whole-grain bread bought from the health food store was not satisfying.

Anonymous(Fantasizing about a juicy cheeseburger on a soft white bun didn't improve the taste of the soy product sandwiched between leaves of organic lettuce) This one is a completed sentence. However, Why would fantasizing be the subject?

Correct. It's a complete sentence. That means it has a subject somewhere, and the beginning is the most logical place to look. The verb is telling us that something or other "didn't improve the taste", so what didn't improve the taste? It was (the action of) fantasizing about that cheeseburger. That action of fantasizing "didn't improve the taste", so the subject is Fantasizing about a juicy cheeseburger on a soft white bun.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Hello, I think I understand it better now. Could the subject also be a phrase like "chewing a soft plastic ring"?

Thank you for your help!

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you, your explanation has helped me understand my question better!!!

AlpheccaStars · Answer

AnonymousHello, I think I understand it better now. Could the subject also be a phrase like "chewing a soft plastic ring"? Thank you for your help!

Yes. It's called a noun phrase. Noun phrases can get quite complex. Can you find the main noun in this noun phrase?

The 20-year-old frantic wailing mother whose baby tumbled out of the carriage when she tried to push it over a high curb

Identifying Subjects and Fragments

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