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A sentence fragment is part of a sentence punctuated as if it were a complete one. Here are some examples:
Fragment: The telephone with two outside lines.
Fragment: Rang loudly for ten minutes.
Fragment: Because the telephone rang loudly.
To correct sentence fragments, you have to be able to spot them. Here are some useful questions to ask while you are looking for fragments.
1. Is there a verb?
If there is no verb, you have written a sentence fragment. Verbs convey
information about what is happening, what has happened, or what will happen.
Let's look at the first example:
Fragment: The telephone with two outside lines.
(what did the telephone do?)
Adding a verb to this fragment produces a complete sentence.
Corrected: The telephone has two outside lines
2. Is there a subject?
If there is no subject, you have written a sentence fragment. To find a subject,
ask “who?” or “what
Let's look at the second example:
Fragment: Rang loudly for ten minutes. (what rang?)
To make a complete sentence, add a subject to this fragment.
Corrected: The telephone rang loudly for ten
minutes.
3. Do the subject and verb start with a subordinating word and lack an independent clause to complete the thought?
If the answer is “yes,” you have written a sentence fragment. Clauses beginning
with subordinating words are called dependent clauses. They cannot stand alone as
independent units. A dependent clause must be paired to an independent clause to
form a complete sentence.
The third example follows:
Fragment: Because the telephone rang loudly. The
family was awakened.
To make a complete sentence, join this dependent clause to the preceding or
following independent clause.
Corrected: Because the telephone rang loudly, the
family was awakened.
Corrected: The family was awakened because the
telephone rang loudly.
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