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(1.1)She turned up at the doorstep of my house in Cornwall. (1.2)No way could I have sent her away. (1.3)No way, not me anyway. (1.4)Maybe someone had kicked her out of their car the night before. (1.5)"We're moving house." (1.6)"No space for her any more with the baby coming." (1.7)"We never really wanted her, but what could we have done? (1.8)She was a present." (1.9) People find all sorts of excuses for abandoning an animal. (1.10)And she was one of the most beautiful dogs I had ever seen.

(2.1)I called her Goldie. (2.2)If I had known what was going to happen I would have given her a more creative name. (2.3)She was so unsettled during those first few days. (2.4)She hardly ate anything and had such an air of sadness about her. (2.5)There was nothing I could do to make her happy, it seemed. (2.6)Heaven knows what had happened to her at her previous owner ' s. (2.7)But eventually at the end of the first week she calmed down. (2.8)Always by my side, whether we were out on one of our long walks or sitting by the fire.

(3.1)That 's why it was such a shock when she pulled away from me one day when we were out for a walk. (3.2)We were a long way from home, when she started barking and getting very restless. (3.3)Eventually I couldn't hold her any longer and she raced off down the road towards a farmhouse in the distance as fast as she could.

(4.1)By the time I reached the farm I was very tired and upset with Goldie. (4.2)But when I saw her licking the four puppies I started to feel sympathy towards them. (4.3)"We didn't know what had happened to her," said the woman at the door. (4.4)"I took her for a walk one day, soon after the puppies were born, and she just disappeared. (4.5)"She must have tried to come back to them and got lost," added a boy from behind her.

(5.1)I must admit I do miss Goldie, but I've got Nugget now, and she looks just like her mother. (5.2)And I've learnt a good lesson: not to judge people.

My question is : How to understand the sentence in bold? Is it a correct sentence?

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You are right that it is a sentence fragment, with no subject. It should begin with "She was".

If you wanted to have a very old-fashioned, archaic cadence, you could put the "she was" at the end, or in the middle, after "at my side". It's technically correct, but seldom used in normal conversation.

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The sentence is fine and written in a way that adds interest and creates imagery for the reader. It indicates that the author and Goldie were always together and gives 2 examples of activities they did together.

The implied subject of the sentence is Goldie. Depending on how formal this writing is meant to be, it could be stated explicitly:

She was always by my side, whether we were out on one of our long walks or sitting by the fire.

Sentence 2.7 is more likely to be considered controversial, starting with 'But'.

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  • It is perfectly acceptable to start a sentence with "and" or "but". Ironically, the controversy is that people improperly think it's improper. Jan 26, 2014 at 16:05

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