In order to be a grammatically correct complete sentence, a sentence needs a subject (explicit or implied) and a verb. Since it isn’t a complete sentence, it must be reworked to be grammatically correct. In other words, it is only part of a sentence, not a complete one. What is a Sentence Fragment?Ī sentence fragment is exactly as it sounds: a “fragment” of a sentence.
Usually the fragments won’t sound complete, and you will be able to pick them out more easily.Sentence fragment definition: A sentence fragment is a type of incomplete sentence that lacks the necessary grammatical elements to make an independent clause. Here’s a trick: starting from the end of the paragraph, read each "sentence" aloud on its own. Sentence fragments can be hard to detect, since they usually sound all right when you read them together with the surrounding sentences. By working out regularly, you can keep in shape.Solution 2: Add the subject you and reword.Working out regularly will keep you in shape.(no subject for verb will keep working out regularly is object of preposition By) Fragmented: By working out regularly will keep you in shape.But the object can’t do double duty, so the word group ends up as a fragment, without a subject. The writer is trying to use the object of the preposition as the subject of the verb. One very common example is a prepositional phrase followed by a verb. Revised: Motorists taking this route are at risk if they don’t know that there is a hairpin turn down the road.Ī mixed construction is a "sentence" made up of mismatched parts.If they don’t know that there is a hairpin turn down the road. Fragmented: Motorists taking this route are at risk.Revised: After we left the campsite where we had stayed for a week, we drove on to Toronto for the Exhibition.We drove on to Toronto for the Exhibition. Fragmented: After we left the campsite where we had stayed for a week.Revised: Because we didn’t have enough paper for the new printer, we had to make a quick trip to the store.We had to make a quick trip to the store. Fragmented: Because we didn’t have enough paper for the new printer.Revised: I need to write a thank-you note to Aunt Maude, who sent me the turtle-shaped soup tureen.
Who sent me the turtle-shaped soup tureen.
Sentence fragment definition example series#
Series of prepositional phrases (lacks a subject and a verb):.Revised: Looking like landscapes made out of modelling clay, cloud banks drifted lazily across the sky.Cloud banks drifted lazily across the sky. Fragmented: Looking like landscapes made out of modelling clay.Series of verbal phrases (lacks a subject and a verb):.Revised: His work finally done, Ali relaxed with a movie.Absolute phrase (may contain a verbal but lacks a verb):.Revised: We saw a performance by Natasha Ivanovna, a ballerina related to my husband’s family.A ballerina related to my husband’s family. Fragmented: We saw a performance by Natasha Ivanovna.Revised: A sudden wind pounced on the piles of leaves and scattered them across the neatly raked lawn.And scattered them across the neatly raked lawn. Fragmented: A sudden wind pounced on the piles of leaves.In the examples below, the fragments are in italics: But the word group cannot express a complete thought because it lacks something essential to a sentence: a subject or a verb, or both. PhrasesĪ phrase or a series of phrases may contain several words. Most fragments are phrases, dependent clauses or mixed constructions. At other times, you may need to add or remove words to turn a fragment into a complete sentence. Often, the fragment has been broken off from the sentence before or after it, and you can fix it simply by re-attaching it. In grammar, the term sentence fragment refers to an incomplete group of words punctuated as a sentence. Sometimes writers mistakenly believe that a long sentence is too long and divide it in two, creating an error called a sentence fragment. The length of the sentence is not important-it may be very long or very short, but it must make sense by itself. French typography: numerical expressionsĪ sentence must express a complete thought.
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