what does the term sentence fragment mean

#What does the term sentence fragment mean how to

Because it doesn’t express a complete thought, a subordinate clause is a sentence fragment when used alone. Subordinating conjunctions are followed by a comma when they precede the clause they modify: When the farmer opened the gate, the dogs ran into the field.Ī subordinate clause has both a subject and a verb, but it cannot be used by itself as a sentence. In the sentence The dogs ran into the field when the farmer opened the gate, the subordinate clause is when the farmer opened the gate. three french hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear treeĪ subordinate clause modifies a main clause (or some part of it) and always begins with a subordinating conjunction.walked slowly toward the big red buttonĪ sentence fragment may have a subject but may be missing a verb.Įxamples of sentence fragments missing a verb:.Missing a subjectĪ sentence fragment may have a verb but may be missing a subject.Įxamples of sentence fragments missing a subject:

#What does the term sentence fragment mean how to

Let’s examine them more closely so you’ll know how to spot them. There are three main types of sentence fragments: sentences missing a subject, sentences missing a verb, and subordinate clause fragments. For more information, click the links throughout this article for definitions and expert articles, including this one on writing rules that you can actually break (sometimes). Grammar and writing involve a lot of specialized vocabulary. (Other corrections are likewise noted in red throughout the rest of the article.) Here’s one way to fix our sentence fragment, with the correction indicated in red. Who or what is leaking? The lack of a subject, here, is what makes this phrase a sentence fragment.

The example in our introduction is missing a subject: was leaking profusely. (A main clause is also known as an independent clause.) But a sentence fragment is a missing one of these elements: it doesn’t have a subject or a verb, or it is a clause that doesn’t express a complete thought on its own. In English, a complete sentence has a main clause with a subject and verb. Even sentence fragments.Ī sentence fragment is a phrase or clause written as a sentence but lacking an element, as a subject or verb, that would enable it to function as an independent sentence in normative written English. Yep, there’s a time and place for everything.

We will also teach when you may actually want to use them to make your writing shine. Here’s where comes in! We will teach you about different types of sentence fragments and how to transform them into functioning, complete sentences.

Their use can make writing seem choppy and disorganized, and they can easily sneak into our writing without us even noticing. Readers are left confused-or worse yet, annoyed because they can’t decipher the fragment’s meaning.Īs you can see, sentence fragments are chunks of sentences that can’t stand alone. This is often what happens when a reader comes across a sentence fragment like our example above. What was leaking profusely? The kitchen sink? The hot air balloon? The baby’s diaper? The informants secretly embedded in the organizationĪre you perplexed-or maybe even a little bit curious-about the rest of the story and the missing words? (OK, maybe not in the case of the diaper.)