Global Utilities

Academic Language and Learning

Sentence fragments

A fragment is an incomplete sentence. Fragments may be missing a verb or a subject or they may not convey a complete thought.

Example of fragments:

  1. Because the lemming was heading towards the cliff. FRAGMENT

The above fragment contains a subject and a verb, but it does not contain a complete thought. We have the reason for something, but we don’t have the ‘something’. This is the most common form of fragment error. The word ‘Because’ at the beginning has turned a complete sentence (‘The lemming was heading towards the cliff.’) into a fragment, which requires another part to be a complete sentence.

To correct this sentence it needs another part. For example:

  1. Because the lemming was heading towards the cliff, others decided to follow. CORRECT

There are many words similar to ‘because’ that when used in this way, require another part to make a full sentence. Some examples are given in the table below. Don’t be confused. This doesn’t mean that you can’t start a sentence with ‘Because’ (a common urban grammar myth!). You can start a sentence with ‘Because’ as long as you make sure to include the other part of the sentence.

 

  Fragment example
because Because measurements were not taken at regular intervals.
although Although the paramecium was not observed.
whereas Whereas the left ear showed no sign of swelling.
since Since there were no other parameters.
unless Unless future studies find otherwise.


All of the fragments in the above table could be corrected by adding another sentence part with a subject and a verb.

 

  1. Being a very headstrong and independent lemming with a mind of her own. FRAGMENT

This fragment above does not contain a full verb or a subject. The word ‘being’ at the beginning of the sentence looks like a verb, but it is really only part of one. To be a full verb, an –ing word needs to be combined with a ‘helping verb’ such as am, is, are, was or were. (e.g. The lemming is being stubborn). To fix the fragment in the above example another part needs to be added to make it a complete sentence.

  1. Being a very headstrong and independent lemming with a mind of her own, Fifi did not join the others in their rush towards the cliff. CORRECT

Here’s another example of a fragment.

  1. At the edge of the extremely steep cliff near a group of boulders. FRAGMENT

The example above is a fragment because it only tells us the ‘where’ part of the sentence. It does not contain a subject or a verb. We don’t know who is doing what. The fragment needs another part to make it a complete sentence.

  1. At the edge of the extremely steep cliff near a group of boulders, the lemmings gathered for a brief, final meeting. CORRECT

 

Content Approved by: Head of Language and Academic Skills
Page maintained by: Academic Language and Learning Lecturer
Last Updated: 15 November, 2010

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