Acceptable usesĪlthough fragments are usually avoided in formal writing, there are occasionally situations in which they are acceptable.įor instance, in a vertical list, the bulleted items are often fragments.Īnd in a resumé, fragments are usually used to list points related to education or employment: for example, “2019-2022. Usually the fragments won’t sound complete, and you’ll be able to pick them out more easily. 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.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.) 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. Fragmented: I need to write a thank-you note to Aunt Maude.To make sense, it must be connected to an independent clause (a simple sentence): Adjective clause But it does not express a complete thought. Unlike a phrase, a dependent clause contains a subject and a verb. Revised: The stream flowed swiftly along over the rocks and boulders in its path and through the thirsty fields.Over the rocks and boulders in its path and through the thirsty fields. Fragmented: The stream flowed swiftly along.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.Revised: We saw a performance by Natasha Ivanovna, a ballerina related to my husband’s family.Ībsolute phrase (may contain a verbal but lacks a verb).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 bold: Verb phrase (lacks a subject) 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. The sections below show examples of each type of fragment and the way to fix it. 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. A sentence must express a complete thought.
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