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Smarthinking Writer's Handbook |
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Objective In this lesson, you'll learn what a sentence fragment is, the three most common causes for sentence fragments, and how to eliminate sentence fragments in your writing. What Is a Fragment? A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence. A fragment occurs when a sentence is missing either a subject or a predicate, or when a dependent phrase or clause is mistaken for a sentence. A writer sometimes uses a sentence fragment to create a particular effect. The purposefully written fragment can be especially powerful when the writer usually writes in complete sentences and rarely uses the fragment. However, student writers should always try to compose complete sentences when writing essays for their classes, unless their instructor specifically tells them that the occasional fragment-for-effect is acceptable. Fragments Due To Missing Subjects A complete sentence needs to contain a subject, which is the word or words that tells who or what the sentence is about. A subject consists of a noun or a pronoun. If a "sentence" is missing its subject, the main "who" or "what" the sentence is about will be unknown: Swam in the pool. Because there's no subject in this "sentence," readers don't know who or what swam in the pool. To eliminate this sentence fragment and to create a complete sentence, the subject needs to be supplied: Her niece swam in the pool. Fragments Due To Missing Predicates A complete sentence also needs to contain a predicate, which is the word or words in a sentence that express the action or state of being of the subject. A predicate consists of a verb. If a "sentence" is missing its predicate, the main action or being of the subject will be unknown: Her niece in the pool. Because there's no predicate in this "sentence," readers don't know what the niece is doing or being in the pool. To eliminate this sentence fragment and to create a complete sentence, the predicate needs to be supplied: Her niece swam in the pool. (verb of action) Her niece was in the pool. (verb of being) Fragments Due to Dependent Phrases or Clauses A complete sentence needs to contain at least one independent clause, which consists of a subject, a predicate, and an appropriate mark of punctuation. If a sentence consists solely of a dependent phrase or clause, it will be incomplete. A dependent phrase is a group of words that's missing either a subject or a predicate: Skipped down the street. (no subject) Her toothy grin. (no predicate) Because a dependent phrase is missing one of the essential parts of a sentence, it will always be a fragment. A dependent clause, however, has both a subject and a predicate. And yet, because it begins with a subordinating element, it is dependent upon a separate independent clause to be complete. Because she skipped down the street. Although her toothy grin was wide. Even though each clause contains a subject ("she" and "grin") and a predicate ("skipped" and "was"), the subordinating words "because" and "although" make both examples fragments. To make these fragments into complete sentences, a separate independent clause must be connected: Because she skipped down the street, her shoes became
scuffed. Although her toothy grin was wide, it was crooked. The first sentence now is complete because the fragment has been connected to an independent clause (her shoes became scuffed) that explains the result of the action. The second sentence also is complete because the fragment has been connected to an independent clause (it was crooked) that explains the other side of the contrast. Note: When the dependent phrase/clause comes before the independent clause, a comma must follow the dependent clause. When the dependent phrase/clause comes after the independent clause, no comma is needed. Eliminating Sentence Fragments There are four basic ways to eliminate a sentence fragment:
(1) Adding the Missing Subject Jumped on the trampoline. The young girls next door jumped on the trampoline.
(2) Adding the Missing Predicate The young girls next door on the trampoline. The young girls next door jumped on the trampoline. (3) Connecting the Dependent Phrase or Clause to an Existing Independent Clause When a fragment is a dependent phrase or clause, connect it to an existing independent clause (if connecting the two makes reasonable sense): At the beginning. All went well for the business. At the beginning, all went well for the business. (complete sentence created by connecting the fragment to an existing independent clause) Because it happened at the beginning. All went well for the
business. Because it happened at the beginning, all went well for the
business. (4) Rewriting the Fragment as a Complete Sentence At the beginning went well for the business. The business experienced its most profitable period during its first
few weeks. Therefore, if the first three methods don't seem to be useful in helping you eliminate fragments in your writing, try this last one: Keep in mind that your new, complete sentence needs to contain a subject, a predicate, and an appropriate mark of punctuation.
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