How to Fix a Sentence Fragment, with Examples

by | Nov 27, 2024 | English Grammar

How to fix a sentence fragment?

Sentence fragments are incomplete thoughts that does not make sense for the reader because they are missing something important in the sentence such as the subject or verb. Learning how to fix sentence fragments is important to make writing correct and clear.

In this article, you will learn what a sentence fragment is, how to identify sentence fragments, and how to fix a sentence fragment.

What is a Sentence Fragment?

A sentence fragment is a group of words that look like a sentence but it is not a complete sentence because it lacks something important such as a subject or a verb.

for example:

  • running through the park.

What is a Complete Sentence?

A complete sentence is one that conveys a complete thought and make sense. If a sentence does not convert a complete thought, it is a sentence frgrament which means a group of words that lack some important things in it.  In English, a complete sentence has two things: a subject and a predicate.

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  • Subject – who or what the sentence is about
  • A predicate – what the subject is doing or something about the subject.

For example:

  • The boy was running through the park.

How to Fix a Sentence Fragment

You can easily fix sentence fragments in your wiring in three different ways. 

  • Add the missing subject or predicate
  • connect the fragment to a complete sentence
  • remove extra words that cause confusion

1. add the missing subject or predicate

A sentence must have a subject and verb to convert a complete message. If either of these two is missing in the sentence, you can easily fix your sentence fragment by adding them.

for example:

  • enjoying the sunny day. (sentence fragment)
  • The children were enjoying the sunny day.

2. connect the fragment to a complete sentence

If a sentence fragment is a phrase that can not stand alone, you can easily fix it by connecting to a complete sentence. for example

  • Because I was late for school.

I missed the bus because I was late for school.

3. Remove extra wors that cause cofusion

Sometimes, fragments occur because of unnecessary words like and, because, or which. Removing or rephrasing these words can help. 

For example:

  • Which is why she left the meeting early. 
  • she left the meeting early. 

Removing which is why simplifies the sentence and makes it correct.

Examples of Sentence Fragments and How to Fix them

Here are some of the examples of sentence fragments and how to fix them easily. 

Example 1:

  • walking to the store.
  • She was walking to the store.

Example 2

  • After the rain stopped
  • We went outside after the rain stopped

Example 3 

  • Such as books and movies
  • I enjoy hobbies such as books and movies.

How to Avoid Sentence Fragments

Here are some useful tips to avoid sentence fragments in your writing.

1. Always check for a Subject and a Verb.

Most of the time sentence fragments occurs because lack of subject or verb in the sentence. Always check that if a subject or verb is missing and avoid sentence fragments from your writing.

2 Read Your Writing Out Loud

Another way to avoid sentence fragments from your waiting is to read your text out loud. In this way, you can easily figure out what is missing in your sentence.e because a complete sentence makes sense and convey a complete thought. if there is something missing or incomplete thought, it means that is a sentence fragment.

3 Use Writing tools

You can also use online writing tools to fix sentence fragments in your writing because tools like Grammarly or Microsoft Word are great for catching these errors.

 

Conclusion

A sentence fragment is a group of words that look like a sentence but these group of words are not complete sentence. Becuase a complete sentence in English grammar is a complete thought which is understandable. However, a sentence fragment lacks a subject or verb in it and therefore is not a complete sentence or thought. 

You can easily fix sentence fragments in your writing by checking if there is anything missing in your sentence. if the subject or vebr is missing, add subject or ver to your sentence and it will become a complete sentence. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Affirmative Sentences

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about how to fix a sentence fragment.

What is a sentence fragment?

A sentence fragment is a group of words that looks like a sentence but it  is not a sentence.

What are the easiest ways to fix sentence fragments?

The easiest way to fix a sentence fragment is to check for missing subjects or verbs. Connecting the fragments to nearby sentences is another quick fix

I hope this article helped you learn what the sentence fragments are and how to fix a sentence fragment in your writing. Also, How to identify sentence fragments in your writing.  

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