Sentence Fragments

A sentence fragment is a group of words beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period but missing at least one of the following elements: a subject, a verb, or a complete thought. Though a sentence fragment is written as a sentence, it is only part of one.

One way to check for sentence fragments is to read each group of words written as a sentence, making sure that it contains at least one subject and one predicate and a complete thought.

 

Try It!

Look at the groups of words below. Decide if they are sentences or sentence fragments. If they are sentence fragments, determine what is missing and revise it to make a complete sentence.

1. Bill always playing in the yard on the weekends.
   2. When Sally tried to change my mind.
   3. For example, the plastic bottle with a green label.
   4. Which helped to reduce the pain from the stubborn.
   5. Water sparkling in the moonlight.

 

Possible Answers:

1. Bill is always playing in the yard on the weekends.
2. Sally tried to change my mind.
3. For example, the plastic bottle with a green label is eco-friendly.
4. I gave her Tylenol which helped to reduce the pain from the stubborn donkey.
5. The water is sparkling in the moonlight.