What Is a Sentence Fragment? | Examples & Definition

A sentence fragment is a piece of writing that looks like a sentence but is grammatically incomplete. This is normally because it is missing a subject or a verb.

Sentence fragments can usually be spotted quite easily because they do not express a complete thought. They always lack at least one piece of information that is key to understanding the meaning.

What is a sentence fragment?

A proper complete sentence needs at least one subject and one verb (e.g., “Tom walks”). The verb describes the action that takes place (e.g., “walks”), and the subject is the person, place, or thing that is performing the action (e.g., “Tom”).

By contrast, a sentence fragment is typically missing either the subject, the verb, or both. One way to identify a sentence fragment is to ask yourself if it expresses a complete thought or, in other words, if it’s clear who is performing the action and what that action is.

For instance, in the following example, “Running late” doesn’t tell us who is performing the action. We know someone is running late, but there’s no explicit subject to clarify who that is. The corrected version fills in the information that was missing.

Every complete sentence contains at least one independent clause. Independent clauses express a complete thought and are always composed of at least one subject and verb. If a sentence contains only one independent clause, it is called a simple sentence (e.g., “I went to the movies”).

Dependent clauses can be created by adding a subordinating conjunction to the beginning of an independent clause (e.g., “after” in “after I went to the movies”).

Dependent clauses cannot stand alone as a complete sentence; they must be attached to an independent clause. If a dependent clause is not connected to an independent clause, it is a sentence fragment, even though as a clause it contains both a subject and a verb.

Common types of sentence fragment

Sentence fragments are very common in spoken English, and there are many ways they can creep into your writing. Here are some common categories of sentence fragments.

How to fix a sentence fragment

In most cases you can fix a sentence fragment by adding the missing verb or subject, or both.

If your sentence fragment is a dependent clause that is not attached to the clause it depends on, then you can change the punctuation or rewrite the clauses.

Are sentence fragments ever OK?

We use sentence fragments all the time when we speak. You will also often find sentence fragments in creative writing. This can be to make dialogue more realistic or for dramatic effect (e.g., “He stopped suddenly in the darkness. Nothing. Nothing but silence”).

In academic writing, however, it’s best to avoid using sentence fragments.

Frequently asked questions about sentence fragments

How can I identify a sentence fragment?

At its simplest, a sentence contains a subject and a verb (e.g., “Sarah woke up”). If there is no verb or no subject, then it’s usually a sentence fragment.

Another way of testing whether you’re dealing with a sentence fragment is to ask yourself if it expresses a complete thought. If it doesn’t, then it is a sentence fragment (e.g., “No luck today”).

Look for clauses that leave you needing more information to fully understand them (e.g., “Yesterday at the hospital”).

Can a sentence contain a subject and a verb but still be a sentence fragment?

Yes, a statement might have a subject and a verb but still be a sentence fragment. This is especially the case with dependent clauses. When a dependent clause is not connected to an independent clause, it is a sentence fragment:

• When Alex had a birthday party.
• When Alex had a birthday party, I was able to help with the arrangements.

To help you decide, you can ask yourself if the clause expresses a complete thought (e.g., “When Alex had a birthday party, I was able to help with the arrangements”) or if there is information missing (e.g., “When Alex had a birthday party”).

How can I fix a sentence fragment error?

Sometimes it might take some rewriting to make a sentence fragment better. Rearranging the clauses and adjusting the punctuation can fix a sentence fragment:

• I missed the game on Saturday. Because I had broken my foot.
• Because I had broken my foot, I missed the game on Saturday.

In some cases, you may need to add a missing subject:

• Went shopping.
• I went shopping.

In other cases, you might need to add a subject and a verb:

• Running through the park in the early morning.
• I love running through the park in the early morning.

What is the difference between a sentence and a sentence fragment?

A sentence contains at least a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.

A sentence fragment is usually missing a subject, a verb, or both (e.g., “Wondering what to cook for dinner”).

In some cases, a clause might have both a subject and a verb, but also a subordinating conjunction. This makes it a dependent clause on its own, which is a sentence fragment (e.g., “After the second Act”).

A simple question to ask yourself to test if you have a sentence fragment is whether the clause contains a complete thought. If it does, then there is probably no problem.