What is a sentence fragment and how do I fix it?
You might get feedback on your essay saying that a sentence is called a “sentence fragment,” but what does that mean? Sentence fragments are when one of the essential pieces, subject or verb, is missing. For example,
“Has been feeling sick for the last week.”
- This sentence fragment is missing a subject. Who or what has been feeling sick?
“The family who lives next door.”
- This sentence fragment is missing a verb. What is the family doing?
“Although the lineup was very long.”
- This sentence fragment is missing both the subject and verb. This is a dependent clause and must be with a full sentence.
“When Jim studies in the library for his nursing quiz.”
- This sentence fragment has both a subject and verb but is an incomplete thought and a dependent clause.
How do I fix sentence fragments?
These are sentence fragments because they are only a single part of the sentence. It can be hard to understand the meaning without the full sentence. To fix this error, you must determine what is missing and add the necessary part.
“Has been feeling sick for the last week.” -> “Adam has been feeling sick for the last week.”
- A subject has been added.
“The family who lives next door.” -> “The family who loves next door went on vacation.”
- A verb has been added.
“Although the lineup was very long.” -> “Although the lineup was very long, Abdi and Hussain waited to buy coffee.”
- A subject and verb has been added creating an independent clause.
“When Jim studies in the library for his nursing quiz, he uses flash cards.”