Learning how to fix sentence fragments is challenging to writers of all levels. Inexperienced writers may write in sentence fragments because they do not understand what constitutes a complete thought or because they model their writing after their fragmented speech. Experienced writers get habituated to "memo-style," dialogue (text messaging), or point-by point writing and struggle writing connected thoughts. Here are a few workable strategies to revise these errors in sentence structure.

Definition: A sentence fragment consists of an incomplete thought, a sentence subject, or a sentence predicate and so is an incomplete sentence.

A complete sentence

1. tells a complete thought.
2. has both a subject and a predicate.
3. has the voice drop down at the end of a statement and the voice go up at the end of a question (in English).

Sentence Fragment Examples:

After he went to work.
Incomplete Thought
Going to school.
No Sentence Subject
The young, attractive woman.
No Sentence Predicate

The Three Types of Sentence Fragments and Their Fixes

1. Incomplete Thought Starting with a Subordinating Conjunction

Subordinating Conjunctions:

after, as, although, because, before, how, however, since, so, that, when, whenever, which, while, who, unless, until, when, whenever, whether, while

The Fixes

-Eliminate the subordinating conjunction.
Example:
After they ate dinner.
Fragment
They ate dinner.
Complete

-Add on an independent clause.
Example:
Because they were friends.
Fragment
Because they were friends, they settled their differences.
Complete

-Connect the fragment to the sentence before or after the fragment.
Example:
Because of the ice. The roads were a slippery hazard.
Fragment
The roads were a slippery hazard because of the ice.
Complete

-Read the sentence out loud to check if the voice drop downs at the end of the statement. If not, consider re-working the sentence.

2. No Sentence Subject

The Fixes

-Add on a subject (person, place, thing, or idea), i.e. the "do-er" to act on the verb in the sentence. Change the verb form to fit with the subject.

Example:

Running fast down the hall.
Fragment
He was running fast down the hall.
Complete

-Read the sentence out loud to check if the voice drop downs at the end of the statement. If not, consider re-working the sentence.

3. No Sentence Predicate

The Fixes

-Add on a verb (physical or mental action or a state of being) to "do" the action of the "do-er," i.e. the subject.

Example:

Mainly, the passage of time.
Fragment
Mainly, the passage of time quickened.
Complete

-Read the sentence out loud to check if the voice drop downs at the end of the statement. If not, consider re-working the sentence.

sentence fragments, run-on sentences, complete sentences, subjects and predicates, run-ons, sentence structure

Writing in complete sentences is the essential writing skill. Even sophisticated writers sometimes struggle with sentence fragments. Learn how to identify sentence fragments in your own writing and, more importantly, fix these to create mature and complete sentences.

Mark Pennington is an educational author, presenter, reading specialist, and middle school teacher. Mark is committed to differentiated instruction for the diverse needs of today's remedial reading students. Visit Mark's website at http://www.penningtonpublishing.com to check out his free teacher resources and books: Teaching Reading Strategies, Teaching Essay Strategies, Teaching Grammar and Mechanics, and Teaching Spelling and Vocabulary.