fragment, sentence fragment

A sentence must express a complete thought. The length of the sentence is not important; it may be very long or very short, but it must make sense by itself.

Sometimes writers mistakenly believe that a long sentence is too long and divide it in two, creating an error called a sentence fragment.

In grammar, the term “sentence fragment” refers to an incomplete group of words punctuated as a 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. At other times, you may need to add or remove words to turn a fragment into a complete sentence.

Most fragments are phrases, dependent clauses or mixed constructions. The sections below show examples of each type of fragment and the way to fix it.

Phrases

A phrase or a series of phrases may contain several words. But the word group cannot express a complete thought because it lacks something essential to a sentence: a subject or a verb, or both. In the examples below, the fragments are in bold:

Verb phrase (lacks a subject)

• Fragmented: A sudden wind pounced on the piles of leaves. And scattered them across the neatly raked lawn.
• Revised: A sudden wind pounced on the piles of leaves and scattered them across the neatly raked lawn.

Noun phrase (lacks a verb)

• Fragmented: We saw a performance by Natasha Ivanovna. A ballerina related to my husband’s family.
• Revised: We saw a performance by Natasha Ivanovna, a ballerina related to my husband’s family.

Absolute phrase (may contain a verbal but lacks a verb)

• Fragmented: His work finally done. Ali relaxed with a movie.
• Revised: His work finally done, Ali relaxed with a movie.

Series of verbal phrases (lacks a subject and a verb)

• Fragmented: Looking like landscapes made out of modelling clay. Cloud banks drifted lazily across the sky.
• Revised: Looking like landscapes made out of modelling clay, cloud banks drifted lazily across the sky.

Series of prepositional phrases (lacks a subject and a verb)

• Fragmented: The stream flowed swiftly along. Over the rocks and boulders in its path and through the thirsty fields.
• Revised: The stream flowed swiftly along over the rocks and boulders in its path and through the thirsty fields.

Dependent clauses

Unlike a phrase, a dependent clause contains a subject and a verb. But it does not express a complete thought. To make sense, it must be connected to an independent clause (a simple sentence):

Adjective clause

• Fragmented: I need to write a thank-you note to Aunt Maude. Who sent me the turtle-shaped soup tureen.
• Revised: I need to write a thank-you note to Aunt Maude, who sent me the turtle-shaped soup tureen.

Adverb clause

• Fragmented: Because we didn’t have enough paper for the new printer. We had to make a quick trip to the store.
• Revised: Because we didn’t have enough paper for the new printer, we had to make a quick trip to the store.

Series of dependent clauses

• Fragmented: After we left the campsite where we had stayed for a week. We drove on to Toronto for the Exhibition.
• Revised: After we left the campsite where we had stayed for a week, we drove on to Toronto for the Exhibition.

• Fragmented: Motorists taking this route are at risk. If they don’t know that there is a hairpin turn down the road.
• Revised: Motorists taking this route are at risk if they don’t know that there is a hairpin turn down the road.

Mixed constructions

A mixed construction is a “sentence” made up of mismatched parts. One very common example is a prepositional phrase followed by a verb. The writer is trying to use the object of the preposition as the subject of the verb. But the object can’t do double duty, so the word group ends up as a fragment, without a subject.

Here’s an example:

• Fragmented: By working out regularly will keep you in shape.

In the fragment above, there’s no subject for the verb “will keep.” (“Working out regularly” is the object of the preposition “By”; therefore, it can’t serve as subject of the sentence.)

Solution 1: Drop the preposition “By.”

• Working out regularly will keep you in shape.

Solution 2: Add the subject “you” and reword.

• By working out regularly, you can keep in shape.

Tip for detecting a fragment

Sentence fragments can be hard to detect, since they usually sound all right when you read them together with the surrounding sentences.

Here’s a trick: starting from the end of the paragraph, read each “sentence” aloud on its own. Usually the fragments won’t sound complete, and you’ll be able to pick them out more easily.

Acceptable uses

Although fragments are usually avoided in formal writing, there are occasionally situations in which they are acceptable.

For instance, in a vertical list, the bulleted items are often fragments.

And in a resumé, fragments are usually used to list points related to education or employment: for example, “2019-2022. Completed a Bachelor of Arts degree.”

Finally, skilled writers sometimes intentionally use fragments for effect, as this excerpt from the opening chapter of Dickens’ novel Bleak House illustrates:

Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls deified among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. […] Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging in the misty clouds.