Sentence fragments
Express your ideas clearly and accurately. Don’t be put off by the grammatical terms, but rather focus on the ways you can correct your mistakes in grammar.
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Fragment
Children helping in the kitchen.
It is missing a verb phrase and therefore does not express a complete thought.
Complete sentence
Children helping in the kitchen often make a mess.
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Fragment:
Told her about the broken vase.
It is missing a subject and therefore does not express a complete thought.
Complete sentence:
I told her about the broken vase.
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Fragment
The store down on Main Street.
This is a fragment because it is missing a verb phrase and therefore does not express a complete thought.
Complete sentence
The store down on Main Street sells music
Fragments often occur because of some common error, such as starting a sentence with a preposition, a dependent word, an infinitive, or a gerund.
Preposition
A preposition is used to show direction, location, time or to introduce an object.
Ahmed dreamed of life in another country.
Ahmed succeeded in emigrating to the country of his dreams.
Use this graphic to help you edit fragments that begin with a preposition.
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Incorrect
After walking over two kilometres. John remembered his wallet.
Correct
After walking over two kilometres, John remembered his wallet.
Correct
John remembered his wallet after walking over two kilometres.
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Incorrect
The dog growled at the vacuum cleaner. When it was switched on.
Correct
When the vacuum cleaner was switched on, the dog growled.
Correct
The dog growled at the vacuum cleaner when it was switched on.
Dependent word
Clauses that start with a dependent word—such as since, because, without, or unless—are similar to prepositional phrases. Like prepositional phrases, these clauses can be fragments if they are not connected to an independent clause containing a subject and a verb. To fix the problem, you can add such a fragment to the beginning or end of a sentence. If the fragment is added at the beginning of a sentence, add a comma.
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Incorrect:
Because we lost power. The entire family overslept.
Correct:
Because we lost power, the entire family overslept.
Correct:
The entire family overslept because we lost power. -
Incorrect:
He has been seeing a physical therapist. Since his accident.
Correct:
Since his accident, he has been seeing a physical therapist.
Correct:
He has been seeing a physical therapist since his accident.
Gerund
When you encounter a word ending in -ing in a sentence, identify whether or not this word is used as a verb in the sentence. If the word is not used as a verb, it is used as a noun. An -ing verb form used as a noun is called a gerund.
Verb:
I was working on homework until midnight.
Noun:
Working until midnight makes me tired the next morning.
Once you know whether the -ing word is acting as a noun or a verb, look at the rest of the sentence. Does the entire sentence make sense on its own? If not, what you are looking at is a fragment. You will need to either add the parts of speech that are missing or combine the fragment with a nearby sentence.
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Incorrect:
Taking deep breaths. Saul prepared for his presentation.
Correct:
Taking deep breaths, Saul prepared for his presentation.
Correct:
Saul prepared for his presentation. He was taking deep breaths.
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Incorrect:
Congratulating the entire team. Sarah raised her glass to toast their success.
Correct:
She was congratulating the entire team. Sarah raised her glass to toast their success.
Correct:
Congratulating the entire team, Sarah raised her glass to toast their success.
Infinitive
Another error in sentence construction is a fragment that begins with an infinitive. An infinitive is a verb paired with the word to; for example, to run, to write, or to reach. Although infinitives are verbs, they can be used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. You can correct a fragment that begins with an infinitive by either combining it with another sentence or adding the parts of speech that are missing.
Incorrect:
We needed to make three hundred more paper cranes. To reach the one thousand mark.
Correct:
We needed to make three hundred more paper cranes to reach the one thousand mark.
Correct:
We needed to make three hundred more paper cranes. We wanted to reach the one thousand mark.
Attributions
This work includes material from the following sources:
The Saylor Foundation. (2013). Writing for success. Retrieved from http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Writing%20for%20Success.pdf Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
