Some verbs require helpers in order to be complete. The birch trees with their rattling yellow leaves swayed in the wind. What about the birch trees? Adding a verb makes this fragment complete: The birch trees with their rattling yellow leaves. Any phrase, no matter how long, is a fragment if the verb is missing: Some fragments are fragments because they are missing a verb or an essential part of a verb. So the subject of " Turn in your schedule changes at the counter" is you: " turn in your schedule changes at the counter.")
This kind of sentence has an unstated subject, you. (Avoid the mistake of thinking that a command, demand, or request lacks a subject.
Stan hopes to register for class before the deadline. The simplest fix is to add a subject and verb: ("To register" is not really a verb, but another thing entirely see the TIP Sheet Other Phrases: Verbal, Appositive, Absolute). Who wants to register? Or failed to register? Or plans to register? This fragment lacks both subject and verb. To register for class before the deadline. Mitchell went biking and swimming after work on Thursday.Īnother suspect in the missing subject category is a phrase like this one: What about biking and swimming? Who is biking and swimming? Are you proposing that we all go biking and swimming? Add both a subject and a verb to correct this (again, not the only solution): Phrases which include words ending in -ing often appear as fragments:īiking and swimming after work on Thursday. Who was running late? The instructor? The train? The simplest (but by no means only) way to correct this fragment is to add a subject: Often the subject appears nearby, perhaps in the preceding sentence however, each sentence must have a subject of its own. (For help identifying subjects and verbs, see the TIP Sheet Parts of Sentences.) If you think a subject is missing, or the verb sounds a little strange, or the thought is left hanging, refer to the tips below. Does it sound complete? If you walked up to a stranger and said it to him, would it sound like a complete thought to him? Or would he be waiting expectantly for you to finish? Even if it sounds okay to you (because you already know what you mean), look at it and identify the subject (who or what did the action) and the verb (what the subject did) to make sure they're there. To begin to identify fragments in your writing, read a sentence aloud. But English conventions require that you avoid writing fragments (except in very rare instances), so you must be able to identify them in your writing and fix them. In fact, if you spoke in complete sentences for one entire day, you would probably get some strange looks.
#Sentence fragments examples full
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