Question

Can I start a sentence with a lower case abbreviation for example:

"chDSD being a 376-residue enzyme extracted from chicken livers that degrades D-serine, an important signaling molecule linked to higher brain function in some vertebrates."

chDSD being D-serine dehydratase

Answer 1

Shockingly, this is a fragment. chDSD is a subject. "Being a 376-residue enzyme extracted from chicken livers" modifies chDSD. "that degrades D-serine" modifies livers. "an important signaling molecule linked to higher brain function in some vertebrates" is an appositional phrase.

In short, it is legal, but the sentence you have there is a fragment.

Answer 2

In the context where the enzyme was extracted from is not fundamentally important as it is just an aside. Furthermore, the liver as a whole is not relevent to the degredation of D-serine. You are probably still right though.

Answer 3

This is not a content error. It's a grammatical one.

Answer 4

Any tips on avoiding errors such as these?

Answer 5

Well every independent clause needs a subject and verb in a sentence. Yes being can be a verb, but it's acting as a particial phrase, which is not part of the independent clause. What you can do is first identity all the dependent modifiers and get rid of them. If the remaining words do not make a sentence by itself, it's most likely a fragment.

Answer 6

Thanks

Answer 7

No problem. :)

Answer 8

Just a quick thought... make sure you identify the correct subject and verb within a sentence, because you might have a sentence that looks like the following:

Making pizza relaxes me.

The subject is a part of the independent sentence, which you do not want to get rid of. "Making pizza" is the subject.