Fragments:ACorrectionGuide
Asentencefragmentisagroupofwordspretendingtobeasentence(Hacker226).
Asentenceconsistsofanindependentclause,whichincludesasubjectandaverb.Theway
totesttoseeifyouhavefragmentsinyouressaysistoaskyourselfthreequestions.
1. Isthereasubject?
2. Isthereaverb?
a. Ifyesto1and2,thenyouhavesentence.Ifno,thenyouhaveafragment.
3. Doesyoursentencestartwith‘Because’or‘when’?
a. Ifyes,thenyouhaveafragment.Ifno,thenyouaskquestion1and2.
Herearesomeexamplesoffragmentsinboldandcompletesentencesinitalics.
Leavingherteamatatimewhenweneededher.
CoachDietzwalkedoffthefieldinthemiddleofagame,leavingherteamatatimewhenwe
neededher.
BecausetheoneIhavenowisn'tworkingouttoowell
IneedtofindanewroommatebecausetheoneIhavenowisn’tworkingouttowell.
Sincetheweatherwillbeterrible,youshouldstayinthiscomingweekend.
Thinkofafragmentasanincompletethoughtthatneeds–andisdependenton–a
completesentence.Afragmentcannotexistwithoutbeingconnectedtoacomplete
sentence.Herearethesameexamplesoffragmentswithcorrections.
 Leavingherteamatatimewhenweneededher,CoachDietzwalkedoffthefield
inthemiddleofagame.
 BecausetheoneIhavenowisn'tworkingouttoowell,Ineedtofindanew
roommate.
 Sincetheweatherwillbeterrible,youshouldstayinthiscomingweekend.
Sometimes,fixingafragmentisnotthateasy.Somefragmentsarewrittenasmain
clausesbutlackadirectobjectormainverb.[Notethatthedirectobjectineachrevision
belowisitalicized,andtheverbisunderlined.]
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Fragment:Astorywithdeepthoughtsandemotions.
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Revision:Addaverbanddirectobject:Astorywithdeepthoughtsandemotions
inspiresthemind.
Fragment:Therambunctiouskids.
Revision:
o Addaverb:Therambunctiouskidsraged.
o Addadirectobject:Therambunctiouskidsrodemotorbikes.
Somefragmentsarewrittenwithprepositionsandlackasubject.Thesefragmentscan
becorrectedbyremovingtheprepositionorbyrearrangingthesentence.
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Fragment:Withtheultimateeffectofalladvertisingistoselltheproduct.
Revision:
o Removepreposition:Theultimateeffectofalladvertisingistosellthe
product.
Fragment:
o Bypayingtoomuchattentiontopollscanmakeapoliticalleader
unwillingtoproposeinnovativepolicies.
Revisions:
o Removepreposition:Payingtoomuchattentiontopollscanmakea
politicalleaderunwillingtoproposeinnovativepolicies.
Fragment:
o FordoingfreelanceworkforacompetitorgotPhilfired.
Revisions:
o Removepreposition:DoingfreelanceworkforacompetitorgotPhilfired.
o Rearrange:Philgotfiredfordoingfreelanceworkforacompetitor.
Theselastthreeexamplesoffragmentswithnosubjectsarealsoknownas“mixed
constructions,”thatis,sentencesconstructedoutofmixedparts.Theystartonewaybut
endwitharegularverb.Usuallytheobjectoftheprepositionisintendedasthesubjectof
thesentence,soremovingtheprepositionatthebeginningisusuallytheeasiestwaytoedit
sucherrors.
Last edited: February 24, 2016 by: Carlos A. Lopez