As you probably know, a fragment is a small piece of something. Likewise, a sentence fragment is a just a piece of a sentence that’s become detached or separated from the rest. On its own, it’s an incomplete sentence, and so it’s sometimes called a fragment sentence. Most of the time, a fragment is the result of a misplaced period that separates certain words or information from a sentence’s main clause. Since every sentence needs a main clause, anything without one is a sentence fragment.
Sentence fragments happen more often than you might think, especially for developing writers. Here are some common ways they tend to show up, with the fragments in purple :
Sentence fragments are easily avoidable mistakes. The main ways that they happen are when we misplace punctuation in a way that cuts off a main clause, or when we try to use dependent clauses as full sentences. So, any incomplete sentence is a fragment. But, the good thing is that they are easy to spot and easier to fix!
By themselves, dependent clauses are always sentence fragments because they don’t express complete thoughts on their own. They can’t be full sentences because they are “dependent” on independent clauses to make sense. So, without an independent clause (the main clause), a dependent clause is a fragment. Let’s make that easier to understand with this example:
Here, the independent clause is a full sentence. But, dependent clause “at the local orchard” doesn’t make any sense on its own—it’s just a fragment of a complete thought. So, we need to piece it together with the independent clause:
By attaching the fragment to an independent clause, we now have a complete sentence! Let’s try another example:
Again, the dependent clause doesn’t make sense: “while I was apple-picking” isn’t a full sentence. But, by combining it with the independent clause, we fix the fragment.
You now know that every sentence needs a main (independent) clause. When words get cut off from a main clause by a period, they turn into a fragment. Sometimes that may be a few words—when that happens, the fragment is really just the result of a period in the wrong place. In most situations, a misplaced period happens when a writer uses a period instead of another type of punctuation, like a comma or a colon.
Here’s what happens when you misplace an extra period:
“Later on tonight” is a fragment because it doesn’t have a subject or a predicate (it is not an independent clause). So, in this example, the period is not necessary—it breaks the sentence up into an independent clause and a fragment. Removing the period fixes that! Here’s another:
Here’s what happens when you use a period instead of a colon:
When a period is used instead of a colon, you’re only left with a fragment that has a list of things. Since the fragment doesn’t have a subject or a predicate, it can’t be a full sentence.
And here’s what happens when you use a period instead of a comma:
Again, the second part of the sentence doesn’t have a subject or a predicate. It’s a dependent clause, and needs the first part of the sentence to make sense—we just need a comma, not a period, to connect them!
Now you know that a sentence fragment happens when we don’t write in complete sentences, or we break sentences up when we don’t need to. Therefore, the way to avoid fragments is to simply make sure we write in full sentences and express complete thoughts. We do this by being able to recognize dependent clauses and fix misplaced periods that break off words from their main clause.
Every sentence needs a subject-predicate combination (a clause), but, to be a full sentence, it needs at least one independent clause. That’s why on its own, a dependent clause is a sentence fragment. While dependent clauses do have a subject-predicate combination, they don’t express a complete thought, and because it’s not a complete thought, a dependent clause leaves an unanswered question. Look at these examples:
The first sentence makes sense—the subject Sally lost her phone. But the second example doesn’t express a complete thought, and only gives us a fragment of the information. Even though it has a subject (she) and a predicate (was apple-picking), it leaves the question “what happened while she was apple picking?” Without knowing the answer, we don’t know what’s going on. This is a dependent clause. To fix it, we need to answer the question:
As you can see, attaching the independent clause “Sally lost her phone” tells what happened “while she was apple picking.” Now, it’s a complete thought and a full sentence.
Fragments aren’t only dependent clauses—as discussed, they can happen when a group of words gets cut off from a sentence’s main clause—usually from using an extra period. When a period needlessly breaks up a sentence, it can leave words floating around where they don’t belong:
This list of three things doesn’t have a subject or a predicate. In cases like this, the words just need to be connected to the main clause. So, the fragment can be corrected just by fixing or removing a misplaced period:
But how can you tell when a period is in the wrong spot? Well, that’s easy! You just need to remember a period’s purpose—to show what’s called a “full stop.” So, what does that mean, and how can it help?
Basically…
Overall, remember this—if you read a sentence and it sounds too short or doesn’t make sense, then it’s probably a fragment!