How to Know When You Write Sentence Fragments
A sentence fragment cannot stand alone and make sense. Sentence fragments can be difficult to identify because they occur frequently in spoken English, and so may not stand out as obviously incorrect. While others often understand fragments in conversation, formal writing lacks the context to provide clues that help the reader understand what the author means by the fragment. Understanding how to identify the necessary components of a complete sentence will help you identify and correct sentence fragments.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Find the subject. Ask yourself who or what you are talking about in the sentence. Locate the noun (person, place or thing) that performs the action. For example, in the sentence "The jaybird joins the jump." it is the jaybird that performs the action.
-
2
Identify the verb, the word that says what action happens. Ask yourself what the subject does in the sentence. For example, in the sentence "The jaybird joins the jump." the action that the jaybird performs is "joins."
-
-
3
Look for subordinating conjunctions if you found both a subject and a verb. Subordinating conjunctions connect two sentences together and make one sentence dependent upon the other to make a complete thought. Consult a list of subordinating conjunctions for common examples such as: because, after, when, if, since and which.
-
4
Isolate the sentence if you are still uncertain whether it is a fragment. Read the sentence out loud. Ask yourself whether the sentence requires more information to express a complete thought. For example, the sentence "Because the jaybird joins the jump." has a subject (jaybird) and a verb (joins), but it poses the question, "What will happen because the jaybird joins the jump?" and is therefore a fragment.
-
1
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
