2.1 Sentence Fragments

Understanding the Anatomy of a Complete Sentence

Before you can identify a sentence fragment, you must first clearly understand what makes a sentence complete. In English grammar, a complete sentence requires three essential components: a subject, a verb, and a complete thought. If any of these three elements is missing, the group of words is not a complete sentence, regardless of its length or how it is punctuated.

Every complete sentence must contain the following elements:

• Subject: The person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something. It is the "who" or "what" the sentence is about (e.g., in "The dog barked loudly," the subject is dog).
• Verb: The word that expresses the action performed by the subject or its state of being (e.g., in "The dog barked loudly," the verb is barked).
• Complete Thought: The sentence must stand alone and make logical sense without needing additional context to finish the idea.

When a group of words contains both a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought, it is called an independent clause. Every structurally sound sentence must contain at least one independent clause. On the PERT Writing exam, you will frequently encounter questions that test your ability to distinguish between complete sentences (independent clauses) and incomplete ones.

Fragments vs. Complete Sentences at a Glance

To help you visualize how fragments lack these essential components, examine the comparison table below:

What is a Sentence Fragment?

A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence masquerading as a complete one. It is typically punctuated with a capital letter at the beginning and a period at the end, but it fails to meet the grammatical criteria for a complete sentence. Fragments occur when a group of words is missing a subject, is missing a verb, or fails to express a complete thought despite having both a subject and a verb.

Fragments are common in everyday speech and informal writing. We often use them to answer questions or add quick afterthoughts. For example, if someone asks, "Where are you going?" you might reply, "To the store." In casual conversation, this is perfectly acceptable. However, in formal academic writing and on standardized tests like the PERT, fragments are considered major grammatical errors that must be corrected.

To correct a fragment, you generally have two options. You can either supply the missing grammatical element (the subject, the verb, or both) to transform the fragment into an independent clause, or you can attach the fragment to an adjacent independent clause to create a single, grammatically correct sentence.

Missing Subject Fragments

A missing subject fragment occurs when a sentence has a verb but lacks the noun or pronoun that performs the action. These fragments often happen when a writer assumes the subject from the previous sentence carries over to the next one.

Incorrect (Fragment): The manager reviewed the quarterly sales reports. And discovered several major accounting errors.

In this example, the second "sentence" is a fragment because it has a verb ("discovered") but no subject. Who discovered the errors? We know from the context that it was the manager, but grammatically, the second sentence is incomplete.

Correction Method 1: Combine the fragment with the preceding sentence by using a compound predicate. Corrected: The manager reviewed the quarterly sales reports and discovered several major accounting errors.

Correction Method 2: Add a subject to the fragment to make it a complete independent clause. Corrected: The manager reviewed the quarterly sales reports. She discovered several major accounting errors.

Both corrections are grammatically valid, and your choice depends on the stylistic flow you want to achieve.

Missing Verb Fragments

Sometimes, a fragment contains a subject but lacks a functioning main verb. Be particularly careful with words ending in -ing (participles) and infinitives (to + verb). While they look like verbs, they cannot serve as the main verb of an independent clause on their own.

Incorrect (Fragment): The students studying late into the night for their final exams.

Here, "students" is the subject. The word "studying" is a participle modifying the students, but there is no main verb that tells us what the students are actually doing. The thought is incomplete.

Correction Method 1: Change the participle into a main verb. Corrected: The students studied late into the night for their final exams.

Correction Method 2: Add a main verb to complete the thought. Corrected: The students studying late into the night for their final exams passed the class easily.

Another common type of missing verb fragment involves appositives, which are noun phrases that rename or describe another noun.

Incorrect (Fragment): Mr. Johnson, the most beloved teacher in the entire high school. Corrected: Mr. Johnson is the most beloved teacher in the entire high school.

Dependent Clause Fragments

The most common and deceptive type of fragment is the dependent clause fragment. A dependent clause contains both a subject and a verb, but it begins with a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun. Because of this introductory word, the clause cannot stand alone; it leaves the reader waiting for more information to complete the thought.

Common subordinating conjunctions include because, although, if, when, while, since, unless, until, and even though.

Incorrect (Fragment): Because the thunderstorm knocked out the power in our neighborhood.

Even though this group of words has a subject ("thunderstorm") and a verb ("knocked"), the word "Because" turns it into a dependent clause. It does not express a complete thought. What happened because the thunderstorm knocked out the power?

Correction Method 1: Attach the dependent clause to an independent clause. Corrected: Because the thunderstorm knocked out the power in our neighborhood, we had to light candles and play board games.

Correction Method 2: Remove the subordinating conjunction to create an independent clause. Corrected: The thunderstorm knocked out the power in our neighborhood.

When identifying fragments on the PERT, always scan the beginning of sentences for subordinating conjunctions. If a sentence starts with one of these words and is not followed by a main independent clause, you have found a fragment.