Sentence Fragments
Unlike a sentence, a fragment is a group of words that does not express a complete thought and does not contain even one independent clause. That means something is happening to the sentence that stops it from being complete. A fragment can occur for several reasons:
1. The subject is missing
Examples:
- Assumes the university is just over the hill.
- Cleaning out the ashes in the fireplace.
- Is nothing but a slimy, cold and warty frog.
- Is becoming absolutely wonderful at whatever he wants to do, including hopping.
- Right behind the refrigerator.
As you can see, even though something gets done in the sentence, there is nobody actually doing it, so the sentence is not complete. To turn it from a fragment into a sentence we need to add the subject (and sometimes some other words).
Then it can look like this:
- Jill assumes the university is just over the hill.
- Cinderella absolutely hates cleaning out the ashes in the fireplace.
- The wicked stepsister is cleaning out the ashes in the fireplace.
- The prince is nothing but a slimy, cold and warty frog.
- He is becoming absolutely wonderful at whatever he wants to do, including hopping.
- The mice are living right behind the refrigerator.
Sometimes the verb or part of the verb form is missing or wrong; then it looks like this:
Examples:
- It in the refrigerator.
- Jack tumbling down the hill.
- Something coming alive in the dark gloomy mist of the woods.
- He gone to find some juicy flies for lunch.
To fix these sentences, we need to add the verb or missing part of the verb form or correct the verb form.
- It happened in the refrigerator.
- Jack was tumbling down the hill.
- Something is coming alive in the dark gloomy mist of the woods.
- He has gone to find some juicy flies for lunch.
These are common examples of fragments; however, most frequently a fragment contains a subject and verb, but the dependent marker (which is also called a subordinating conjunction) turns the perfectly good sentence into a fragment. This has already been mentioned in the section on sentences, but because dependent markers are so pushy and find their way into so many assignments, here they are again.
- Because she was so very, very beautiful.
- When Jill saw Jack.
- While she was sitting in the lecture.
- Since Jill and Jack were behaving in a very irresponsible and downright outrageous way by running up the hill trying to fetch a pail of water that really wasn't needed at that time when they should have been studying instead.
This kind of fragment can be fixed in two ways.
2. Take the subordinating conjunction (dependent marker) away.
Once you have taken the dependent marker , e.g. because, while, when, since, away, you will find that you have a perfectly good independent clause.
| Fragment | Correct Sentence |
| Because she was so very, very beautiful. | She was so very, very beautiful. |
| When Jill saw Jack. | Jill saw Jack. |
| While she was sitting in the lecture. | She was sitting in the lecture. |
| Since Jill and Jack were behaving in a very irresponsible and downright outrageous way by running up the hill trying to fetch a pail of water that really wasn't needed at that time when they should have been studying instead. | Jill and Jack were behaving in a very irresponsible and downright outrageous way by running up the hill trying to fetch a pail of water that really wasn't needed at that time when they should have been studying instead. |
3. Instead of omitting the dependent marker, you can add another independent clause to the dependent clause.
Then it looks like this:
| Fragment | Correct Sentence |
| Because she was so very, very beautiful.; | Because she was so very, very beautiful, she could be terribly arrogant at times. |
| When Jill saw Jack. | hen Jill saw Jack, she immediately wanted to get more water. |
| While she was sitting in the lecture. | While she was sitting in the lecture, she thought of Jack who was at home with a broken crown. |
| Since Jill and Jack were behaving in a very irresponsible and downright outrageous way by running up the hill trying to fetch a pail of water that really wasn't needed at that time when they should have been studying instead. | Since Jill and Jack were behaving in a very irresponsible and downright outrageous way by running up the hill trying to fetch a pail of water that really wasn't needed at that time when they should have been studying instead, their fall wasn't completely undeserved. |