Avoiding Fragments Definition

A sentence fragment is missing something, so it can't stand alone.

Sentence fragments are frequently caused by "add on" thoughts: You might write a sentence, end it with a period, and then think of something else you wanted to include. Look at the following examples:


Example 1:
Josh searched for hours before he finally found his homework assignment. In a folder under the bed.

"In a folder" and "under the bed" are both prepositional phrases. Neither is a subject nor a verb, and the fragment can't stand alone. Imagine yourself walking up to a friend and saying, "In a folder under the bed." Your friend wouldn't have the slightest idea what your were talking about unless you combined the fragment with the previous sentence:

Josh searched for hours before he finally found his homework assignment in a folder under the bed.


Example 2:
Sarah made her Christmas flight reservations in September. Because she didn't want to get stuck flying standby again.

The word group "Because she didn't want to get stuck flying standby again" is a dependent clause. A dependent clause "depends on" something else; it can't stand alone. Again, if you walked up to a friend and said only the fragment beginning with "Because," your friend would be completely confused. To make sense, you'd have to combine the fragment with the previous sentence or convert the dependent clause to an independent clause--one which can stand alone:

Sarah made her Christmas flight reservations in September because she didn't want to get stuck flying standby again.
   OR
Sarah made her Christmas flight reservations in September. She didn't want to get stuck flying standby again.

Although both of these corrections are grammatically acceptable, the first is better than the second since it combines the two closely-related ideas into one sentence.


Example 3:
When I got back to the dorm, I found that my roommate had left his books on my bed. And thrown his dirty clothes all over the room.

This sentence contains one subject and two verbs:

Subject: roommate
Verbs: had left , thrown

Since the second group of words doesn't have its own subject, it's a fragment that can't stand alone. Again, combining the fragment with the previous sentence solves the problem:

When I got back to the dorm, I found that my roommate had left his books on my bed and thrown his dirty clothes all over the room.


Example 4:
I heard John Adams say that it's going to rain for a week! The local meteorologist.

The phrase "The local meteorologist" is an appositive renaming the noun "John Adams." While "meterologist" could serve as a subject, it has no verb (predicate), so it's a sentence fragment. To correct the fragment, place the modifying appositive next to the noun it modifies:

I heard John Adams, the local meteorologist, say that it's going to rain for a week!



In each of these examples, a fragment was created by an "add-on" thought. "Add-ons" are the most frequent cause of sentence fragments.