“He watched the flying fish burst out again and again and the ineffectual movements of the bird. … They are moving out too fast and too far.” (Hemingway)
A simple sentence has one independent and zero dependent clauses (1 + 0). The golden rule of any sentence (except imperative) – every verb must have a subject! Most of the sentences need all three elements: (1) a subject, (2) a verb, and (3) a thought completer (object, complement, or adverbial). Click on the link to read about a simple sentence.
What is a Sentence?
A sentence is a group of words that has the following characteristics: it has (1) a subject, (2) a verb, and (3) a complete thought.
Example: The night was moist. He watched the flying fish burst out again and again and the ineffectual movements of the bird. (Hemingway)
What Is a Sentence Fragment?
A sentence fragment fails to be a sentence because it is missing one or more of these three requirements.
4 Types of Fragments:
1. Dependent clause only (no independent clause) e.g. When I learned about fragments.
2. Missing subject e.g Happy to learn about sentence fragments.
3. Incomplete verb e.g. I learning about sentence fragments.
4. Phrase fragment (missing a subject-verb relationship) e.g. Because of a lot of obstacles.
Identifying Sentence Fragments
To determine if a group of words is a sentence fragment can be tricky and requires some practice. To find out if the group of words has a complete thought, you can add the phrase “Is it true that” before the words. If the question makes sense, it is a complete sentence. If it doesn’t make sense, it is a sentence fragment.
Example: When we reached the crossroads. Is it true that when we reached the crossroads? The questions doesn’t make sense, so it is a fragment.
Example: I glanced back at him standing in the middle of the crossing. Is it true that I glanced back at him standing in the middle of the crossing? The questions does make sense, so it is a complete sentence.
Principle 1 – To determine a sentence fragment, add the phrase “is it true that…” before a group of words. If the question does NOT makes sense, the group of words is a sentence fragment.
Correcting Sentence Fragments
Once you have identified a sentence fragment, you need to correct it. Your correction method will depend on the type of the fragment discussed earlier: 1. dependent clause only, 2. missing subject, 3. incomplete verb, or 4. phrase fragment.
- A fragment that has only a dependent clause is the most common type of fragment. It happens when a writer puts a period before the idea of the sentence is fully expressed. Use Principle 2 to fix this type of fragments.
Principle 2 – To fix a fragment that is only a dependent clause, connect it to the complete sentence to which it logically belongs. Usually, this type of fragment comes after or before the sentence it belongs to.
2. Fragments with missing subject usually happen in long sentences that begin with a few prepositional phrases. Review the lesson Simple Sentence before you proceed to Practice 3. Use Principle 3 to fix this type of fragment.
Principle 3 – To fix a fragment that is missing a subject, find a verb (action or state) and the doer (who or what) of that action. Remember that a subject is never inside a prepositional phrase.
3. Fragments with incomplete verbs usually happen with continuous tenses. Review the lesson Verb Tenses before you proceed to Practice 4. Use Principle 4 to fix this type of fragment.
Principle 4 – To fix a fragment that has an incomplete verb, first underline the complete verb phrase. Remember that verbs with –ing endings function as participles and are not complete without the verb be, e. g. is coming.
4. Fragments missing subject-verb relationships are called phrase fragments. This type of fragments is caused by long prepositional phrases in the beginning of a sentence. Use Principle 5 to fix this type of fragment.
Principle 5 – When a sentence begins with a prepositional phrase, put it in parenthesis to separate from the subject. Then, find a subject-verb group. Remember that a subject is never inside a prepositional phrase.
Proofreading for Sentence Fragments
- When proofreading your writing, look at every group of words that begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. Add Is it true that before each sentence. If the question makes sense, it is a complete sentence.
- If the question doesn’t make sense, it is a sentence fragment. You need to identify what type of fragment it is. Find a subject and a verb. If it’s a verb phrase, make sure it is complete.
- If both subject and verb are present, look at the sentence before and after this one. The sentence fragment should be attached to one of them.