How to Rewrite Sentence Fragments

In today's society, almost everybody has been guilty of using sentence fragments in both writing and every day speech patterns. While there are times when this is acceptable, in any professional or educational writings, sentence fragments need to be corrected in order to convey what we intend. Read on to learn how to rewrite sentence fragments.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Look at the sentence fragment in question. Read that portion without any of the previous information that may be provided. If the sentence tells a story in and of itself, it is probably fine. If the idea must be developed further, it is probably a fragment. By rewriting the sentence to include an entire idea, you can correct its fragmentary nature.

2. Find the subject and the verb in the sentence. The verb tells what the subject does, or is doing, or has done. In order to correct sentence fragments, the verb plus the subject must be joined in a completed action. In a very simple sentence such as "I ran," "I" is the subject and "ran" is the verb.

3. Rework the sentence fragments so that each one is a complete idea on it's own and needs no further explanation.

4. Review proper sentence structure to be sure you understand what makes a sentence complete. You can purchase workbooks in most grocery stores or you can find printable lessons online.

Resources

• More on Sentence Structure