Take a deep breath and read the following perfectly OK sentence:

"You may think that a sentence, which is a complete thought having a subject and verb or action word, would be considered a run on sentence simply based on the premise that it has many, if not way too many, words, whereas such a sentence may simply be quite long winded, or descriptive, as in the case of many old Dickensian novels which go on and on about the bleak conditions, particularly for young, defenseless children, in the fog-laden, poverty-stricken streets of London back in the 1800's, and, as such, while having many, many words, and making the most of exhaustive verbiage, is not at all a run-on sentence."

While no one in his or her write mind (get the pun) would tell you to write like that anymore, it's not a run on. It is wordy and rambling.   I could diagram it for you, but my arm would fall off.  Instead, I will suggest to you that, in the words of a great sage, you "keep it simple, stupid."

TO RECAP:

Write complete thoughts using a subject and action word or words. Actually find them.  Underline them until you get the hang of it. End each complete thought (sentence) with terminal punctuation (period, question mark, or exclamation point). To combine two complete thoughts, use a comma and a conjunction. To combine two complete thoughts that are closely related, sparingly use a semicolon. On to fragments

Having fragments in your essays. Is really a problem. Especially. Since teachers will often tell you to read your essays out loud to catch your errors. Amazingly. Essays filled with fragments often sound fine. When read out loud. However. When read silently, they are often difficult. To understand. Read this aloud. To see if it sounds correct.

So, what's a guy to do? Attack!  Attack!  Attack! (And no, silly, those last three sentences are NOT fragments.  They are one word sentences!  The action word is "attack" and the subject is "you. " It's understood that I am commanding YOU to attack -- even though the word "you" isn't actually written down.)

Go for it.  (Again, this isn't a fragment.  The verb is "go" and the subject is...yes, you've got it...YOU (understood).)

Having fragments in your essays. The big clue here is the "ing" on having. Without a helping word like "is," we must recognize that no action word is present.  Therefore, we just have a piece of a sentence -- a phrase. How will you fix it?

Any time you discover a fragment, you can fix it in several different ways. Two examples of corrections are shown below. 1.  Join it to the words that follow.

Example:  Having fragments in your essays is really a problem.

2.  Add words to make a complete thought with a      subject and verb.

Example:  Having fragments in your essays is upsetting to teachers.   It is really a problem.

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