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Fixing Sentence Fragments
(Prof. Tarzia, 12/10/2003)
What is a Fragment?
A sentence fragment lacks either a noun or a verb, or does not make sense all by itself. Most fragments are subordinate clauses (dependent clauses) or phrases (often prepositional phrases).
Below, the fragments are italicized.
Prepositional-phrase fragment:
Sarah flew the airplane. On her way home to Oregon.
Dependent clause fragment:
Sarah flies an airplane. When she travels home.
Sentence Parts Involved in Fragments
In English, a complete sentence has a noun and its verb. Also, a complete sentence can stand alone as a sentence (makes sense all by itself). The following sentences are complete:
Simple sentence: He walked home.
He (pronoun) walked (verb) home (direct object).
Longer simple sentence: Sarah flew the airplane on her way to New York.
Sarah (noun) flew (verb) the airplane (direct object) to New York (prepositional phrase).
Longer simple sentence: Impatient to see her family, Sarah flew the airplane to New York.
Impatient to see her family (phrase that describes Sarah), Sarah (noun) flew (verb) the airplane (direct object) to New York (prepositional phrase functioning as an adverb).
Complex sentence (has subordinate clause): Sarah flies an airplane when she travels home to Oregon.
Sarah (noun) flies (verb) an airplane when she travels home to Oregon. (subordinate clause is italicized).
Fixing the Fragment
Usually the fragment is fixed by connecting these clauses and phrases to a related nearby sentence. Good news: the fix is pretty easy to do! Just learn the habit of finding the fragments.
Look for isolated phrases, especially prepositional phrases, then connect them to a related nearby sentence:
Sarah flew the airplane. + On her way home to Oregon. =
Corrected: Sarah flew the airplane on her way home to Oregon.
Look for isolated subordinate clauses, then connect them to a related nearby sentence:
Sarah flies an airplane. + When she travels home. =
Corrected: Sarah flies an airplane when she travels home.
Not All Fragments are Bad!
Although this may sound confusing, you can sometimes use a fragment to create an interesting effect in your writing. You can use these fragments when your teacher and audience are confident that you are a skilled writer and know the difference between an improper fragment and a useful fragment. Ask your teacher first, though. Some examples of “good” fragments (italicized below) are:
- to emphasize (“Not many people try to help a homeless person. In fact, almost none.”)
- to answer a question (“Who ripped up my homework?” “The dog.”)
- to exclaim (“The dog ate my homework. Oh, not again!”)
However, if you are taking beginner-level courses, I suggest you always write in complete sentences.
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