Sentence Fragments

Sentences must contain at least one independent clause. In other words, sentences must (1) have a subject (someone or something doing action), (2) have a verb (action), and (3) convey a complete thought. Sentences that break one or more of these rules are called sentence fragments. Here are some examples of sentence fragments:

• Sat on the chair. (the sentence has no subject—who or what sat?)
• The car in the garage. (the sentence has no verb—what is the car doing or having done to it?)
• The car sitting in the garage. (the sentence appears to have a verb, sitting, but sitting is actually a participle—an adjective formed from a verb)
• Because he studied hard. (this is an incomplete thought—what happened because he studied hard?)

This last example is a dependent clause: it represents an incomplete thought and cannot stand alone as its own sentence. It must be joined to an independent clause. If the dependent clause comes before the independent clause, use a comma to separate them. Example:

Because he studied hard, he passed the test.

He passed the test because he studied hard.

Sentence fragments often occur when a participial phrase stands alone as its own sentence. A participial phrase begins with a participle like in the third example above—an adjective formed from a verb. Participles end in either –ed or –ing. Examples:

Looking over the horizon. (the sentence has no subject or verb)

Irritated by the loud noise. (the sentence has no subject or verb)

Omar studying for his test. (the sentence has a subject—Omar—but no verb)

Possible revisions:

Harry was looking over the horizon.

The dog seemed irritated by the loud noise.

Omar hates studying for his test.

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