What is a Fragment?

A fragment is an incomplete sentence, a series of words that can’t stand on its own. A fragment may express part of an idea, but the reader will be expecting something further to complete the thought. An intuitive way to see if a sentence is a fragment is to put the words “I think that” in front of it.  If the sentence is a complete thought, we should be able to introduce it with “I think that” and have it make sense.  For example, take the following sentence: “Children helping in the kitchen.”  We can try writing, “I think that children helping in the kitchen.” Readers will be wondering, “What about the children helping?” Something is clearly missing.

Grammatically speaking, a fragment lacks a main subject or a main verb or both. “Children helping in the kitchen” is missing a main verb. We could make it into a complete sentence below by adding a main verb, make, as shown below.

Fixing fragments

Combine the fragment with a nearby sentence

Often a fragment belongs with the sentence before or after it.  If the sentence before or after can complete the thought, the simplest way to fix the fragment is to join the two.  Writers sometimes create fragments when we are trying to avoid run-ons.  We may feel that a sentence is getting too long.  Remember, however, that it is fine to write a long sentence if any independent clauses are connected with the right punctuation and connecting words. It is also fine to break the sentence up if it seems too long, but in that case we need to make sure that each resulting sentence is complete on its own.

Add words to complete the thought

If there is no sentence before or after the fragment that naturally completes its meaning, we can add words to make the fragment into a full sentence. This might mean adding a main subject or verb or a whole independent clause.

In the first version in the above example, readers would not have known who was not understanding. The beginning of the sentence was a verbal phrase without a main subject and verb. The first version did include a clause with subject and verb (“it encourages”), but that clause was serving to describe the noun “way.” There was no main verb to go with “way.” The revised complete sentence added a subject, “the general public” and changed the verb from the -ing form into a main verb, “does not understand.” The revision also condensed the sentence by cutting out “the way it.”

Common fragment patterns

Below are some common patterns that fragments take with sample corrections. In each case, there is a word or a grammatical feature that signals to the reader that the phrase is not the main idea but a side idea in the sentence.

Prepositional phrases

Prepositions are words such as in, at, on, of, after, and before. They introduce other words and make a group of words into a prepositional phrase. If a prepositional phrase is not connected to a complete sentence, it is a fragment. Often we can connect the prepositional phrase to a sentence before or after it. If we add it to the beginning of the other sentence, we need to insert a comma after the prepositional phrase.

Dependent words

Dependent words like since, because, without, or unless signal to the reader that a clause is not the main point of the sentence. A dependent clause will have a subject and verb, but it still cannot stand on its own. Like prepositional phrases, a dependent clause can be a fragment if it is not connected to an independent clause containing a main subject and verb. To fix the problem, we can add such a fragment to the beginning or end of an independent clause. When we add the fragment to the beginning of a sentence, we follow it with a comma.

Gerunds

Another common fragment pattern is a phrase that centers on a verb in -ing form. If we use an -ing form at the beginning of a sentence, we should double-check that there is a main subject and verb. The main verb itself can’t be in -ing form, and verbs in -ing form also often appear without a subject.

Infinitives

Another kind of phrase that commonly gets left to stand on its own is an infinitive phrase, or a verb paired with the word to such as to run, to write, or to reach. Like an -ing form, an infinitive cannot be used as the main verb.