Improve Sentence Structure — Eliminate run-ons, fragments, and wordiness.

Clear sentence structure hasn't always been a priority in English writing. In the earliest periods of the language, sentences could stretch for dozens of lines without any punctuation at all. Over centuries, grammarians, educators, and writers worked to establish rules that make communication more effective. Understanding this evolution helps you see that the rules you learn today aren't arbitrary — they exist because writers discovered, through trial and error, that well-structured sentences transfer ideas more reliably from one mind to another.

Today, every major standardized test — including the GED Reasoning Through Language Arts exam — evaluates your ability to recognize and fix structural errors. The three biggest offenders are run-on sentences, sentence fragments, and wordiness. If you can spot and correct these three problems, you'll dramatically improve both your writing score and the clarity of everything you communicate.

Before you can fix broken sentences, you need to understand what a correct sentence looks like. Every grammatically complete sentence in English must contain a subject (who or what the sentence is about) and a predicate (what the subject does or is). It must also express a complete thought — meaning a reader should not feel left hanging when the sentence ends. These three elements form the foundation of every principle that follows.

The diagram below illustrates the three major sentence-structure errors alongside their corrected forms. Study how each error type looks when diagrammed, and notice the specific fix applied in each case. Recognizing these patterns visually will help you identify errors more quickly on the GED.

Notice how each correction strategy directly addresses the root cause of the error. Run-ons need a boundary between the two independent clauses — a period, semicolon, or conjunction. Fragments need the missing piece restored — either by attaching the fragment to a nearby sentence or by adding the missing subject or verb. Wordiness is fixed by stripping away redundancy until every word earns its place.

Run-On Sentences: Two Trains, One Track

A fused sentence smashes two independent clauses together with no punctuation at all: "The alarm rang I jumped out of bed." A comma splice inserts only a comma: "The alarm rang, I jumped out of bed." Both are run-ons because a comma alone is too weak to separate two full sentences.

1. Fix 1 — Period: The alarm rang. I jumped out of bed.
2. Fix 2 — Semicolon: The alarm rang; I jumped out of bed.
3. Fix 3 — Comma + Coordinating Conjunction (FANBOYS): The alarm rang, and I jumped out of bed.
4. Fix 4 — Subordination: When the alarm rang, I jumped out of bed.

Sentence Fragments: Missing Pieces

Fragments come in several forms. A dependent-clause fragment begins with a subordinating word (because, although, since, when, if) but is not attached to a main clause: "Although she practiced every day." A phrase fragment lacks a subject, a verb, or both: "Running through the park at sunset." A missing-verb fragment has a subject but no true verb: "The committee responsible for organizing the event." In each case, the reader is left waiting for information that never arrives.

1. Fix 1 — Attach to a nearby sentence: Although she practiced every day, she still felt nervous before the recital.
2. Fix 2 — Add the missing element: She was running through the park at sunset.
3. Fix 3 — Remove the subordinating word: She practiced every day.

Wordiness: Saying Less to Mean More

Wordiness sneaks into writing in predictable ways. Redundant pairs repeat the same idea ("each and every," "true and accurate"). Filler phrases add bulk without meaning ("due to the fact that" instead of "because," "in order to" instead of "to"). Unnecessary passive voice hides the actor and stretches the sentence ("The ball was thrown by Marcus" instead of "Marcus threw the ball"). On the GED, the most concise answer that preserves the original meaning is almost always correct.

On test day, you'll face sentences that might contain one error, multiple errors, or no error at all. A systematic diagnostic approach saves time and boosts accuracy. The flowchart below walks you through the decision-making process you should use every time you encounter a sentence-structure question.

Below is a short draft paragraph riddled with all three types of sentence-structure errors. We'll walk through diagnosing and fixing each one, just as you would on the GED.

There is rarely a single "right" way to fix a sentence error — but on the GED, you need to choose the best answer among the options provided. The table below compares common correction strategies so you can evaluate which fix produces the clearest, most concise result.

Eliminating run-ons, fragments, and wordiness is foundational, but strong writing extends far beyond fixing errors. Once you master these basics, you can begin focusing on sentence variety, parallel structure, and rhetorical effectiveness — skills that appear on more advanced exam sections and in college-level writing.

As you prepare for the GED and potentially for college-level writing, remember that the skills in this lesson aren't just test tricks — they are the building blocks of all effective communication. Writers who control their sentence structure can shape how readers think and feel, one clear sentence at a time.

Test your skills with these five problems. Each one escalates in difficulty. For every problem, identify the error type (if any), then write or select the best correction.