Are you wondering what sentence fragments are? This article will answer that question and tell you everything you need to know about spotting, correcting, and avoiding them in your writing.
In short, sentence fragments are little pieces of sentences that are incomplete and, therefore, grammatically incorrect.
This guide is part of our free online Grammar Book.
Before I explain what a sentence fragment is, let me explain what a sentence is. In order to make a correct, complete sentence, at the very least, you need a subject and a predicate. The subject tells who or what the action and a predicate describes the action (it contains the verb).
If you have all these elements, you have a complete sentence, otherwise known as an independent clause. An independent clause conveys a complete thought and, therefore, can stand alone, as opposed to a dependent clause which can't.
A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence for one of two reasons:
Let's look at the first reason first—a sentence that's missing a verb:
After work, straight home. ❌
Now let's look at the second thing that can create a sentence fragment—a lack of subject:
Skipping the gym today. ❌
The third thing that can create a sentence fragment is when a conjunction is added to the beginning of a clause that would have otherwise been independent, making it dependent.
For example:
Although she was nervous. ❌
Another common type of sentence fragment occurs with afterthoughts. The speaker wants to add detail or further information to what they just said, so they add it as a new sentence. That's where the mistake lies. You can always add an afterthought but need to connect it to the original sentence or reiterate the subject and verb.
I enjoy making hearty meals for my family. Such as curries, soups and buddha bowls. ❌
Despite what you might think, a sentence fragment doesn't have to be short. There are long sentence fragments, too.
For example:
Looking forward to hearing from you after the tryouts. ❌
Because I was already on my way there when you called. ❌
Some of the behavior that was witnessed at the game last night. ❌
Now you may be thinking, many of these sound like sentences people would say. And you'd be correct. Sentence fragments are common and completely acceptable in conversational. You can even use them in informal writing. But if you want your writing to be grammatically correct, you should avoid them.
The good news is that fixing sentence fragments is pretty straightforward. Usually, it comes down to just connecting it to a nearby independent clause. Alternatively, you can give it the components it needs to be a complete sentence (subject and/or verb). Let's use our earlier examples and fix those.
Our first example was missing a verb:
After work, straight home. ❌
This sentence doesn't contain a verb, so it's not complete. Let's fix it:
After work, I'm going straight home. ✅
The second one was missing a subject:
Skipping the gym today. ❌
All sentences need a subject (except imperative sentences), so if your sentence is missing a subject, it's a fragment. Let's fix it:
I'm skipping the gym today. ✅
The third example started with a subordinating conjunction making it a dependent clause.
Although she was nervous. ❌
You can fix it by either removing the conjunction or adding an independent clause to complete the sentence.
She was nervous. ✅
Although she was nervous, she passed the exam with flying colors. ✅
And what about our afterthought:
I enjoy making hearty meals for my family. Such as curries, soups and buddha bowls. ❌
This one's an easy fix: just join the two sentences together, or reiterate the subject and verb in the sentence fragment (using synonyms to avoid repetition):
I enjoy making hearty meals for my family, such as curries, soups and buddha bowls. ✅
I enjoy making hearty meals for my family. I like preparing curries, soups and buddha bowls. ✅
Let's fix our longer sentence fragments, too:
Looking forward to hearing from you after the tryouts. ❌
I'm looking forward to hearing from you after the tryouts. ✅Because I was already on my way there when you called. ❌
I didn't pick up the phone because I was already on my way there when you called. ✅Some of the behavior that was witnessed at the game last night. ❌
Some of the behavior that was witnessed at the game last night was appalling. ✅
Guess what? There are times when it's okay to use sentence fragments. In fact, some writers use it as a stylistic choice to add dramatic effect.
Strict grammarians might disagree on this and would tell you to avoid sentence fragments at all costs, whether purposeful or not. But in my humble opinion (and I'm not alone in thinking this), getting creative with language is totally okay. Play with it, enjoy it! Making otherwise off-limits choices is part of the fun as long as you get it right.
Yes, sentence fragments that confuse the reader should be avoided, as should accidental fragments that are simply due to laziness or a lack of attention. But if it's a purposeful choice and you believe it adds to the quality of your writing, go for it!
Here is an example of sentence fragments being used appropriately.
There are four in this short paragraph:
Should you leave a puppy to its own devices? Probably not. What if it's a very well-behaved puppy? Depends. On what? Whether or not there are any shoelaces lying around.
That concludes this article on sentence fragments and how (and when) to avoid them in your writing. I hope you found it helpful.
Let's summarize what we've learned:
If you liked this article, you're sure to love our Grammar Book. It's a free online database of grammar articles just like this one. Check it out!
We encourage you to share this article on Twitter and Facebook. Just click those two links - you'll see why.
It's important to share the news to spread the truth. Most people won't.
