that functions like a noun. A noun clause may function as the subject of a clause, a predicate nominative or an object. What she had realized was that love was that moment when your heart was about to burst. (Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) In this sentence the independent clause contains two noun clauses. The noun clause What she had realized serves as the subject of the verb was, and that love was that moment serves as complement. The sentence also contains a relative clause, when your heart was about to burst. Incomplete sentences An incomplete sentence, or sentence fragment, is a set of words that does not form a complete sentence, either because it does not express a complete thought or because it lacks some grammatical element, such as a subject or a verb. A dependent clause without an independent clause is an example of an incomplete sentence. An -ing fragment is a type of incomplete sentence containing a word ending in -ing that is a gerund or noun, not a verb, because it lacks a helping verb. An example is, "Swimming in the ocean". Some prescriptive grammars consider sentences starting with a conjunction such as but or and to be incomplete sentences, but this style prescription has "no historical or grammatical foundation". Computer grammar checkers often highlight incomplete sentences. Run-on sentences A run-on sentence consists of two or more independent clauses (i.e. clauses that have not been made dependent through the use of a relative pronoun or a subordinating conjunction) that are joined without appropriate punctuation: the clauses "run on" into confusion. The independent clauses can be "fused", as in "It is nearly half past five we cannot reach town before dark", in which case the two independent clauses might be separated (between "five" and "we") with a period [...five. We...], a comma and conjunction (...five, and we...), or a semicolon (...five; we...). The independent clauses can be joined inadequately with only a comma (the comma splice). James Joyce's novel Ulysses employs a stream of consciousness, which takes literary license by intentionally breaking this grammatical rule by use of long, punctuation-free, run-on sentences, particularly in the final chapter "Penelope". In general, run-on sentences occur when two or more independent clauses are joined without using a coordinating conjunction (i.e. for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) or correct punctuation (i.e. semicolon, dash, or period). A run-on