Stumbling over Sentence Fragments
When sentences are not correct, are not finely tuned, the
quality and clarity of communication is lost. One way to keep
sentences from working is stumbling over sentence
fragments. A sentence fragment is a group of words
punctuated as a sentence but which lacks a subject, a verb, or
both, and which doesn't contain a complete thought.
Let's examine the following paragraph to discover some sentence
fragments:
Example: Intrepid mountain climbers scaling a tall peak. Climb
higher and higher. Up the frozen slopes. When they reach the
top. They can look forward to an even more treacherous descent.
All of the sentence-like-punctuated groups of words in the
preceding are fragments except the last. We will keep the
paragraph in mind as we look at some ways to correct sentence
fragments.
Sometimes a fragment lacks a subject. Therefore, adding a
subject makes the fragment a sentence.
Fragment without a subject: Climb higher and higher.
Sentence: They climb higher and higher.
Another way to correct a sentence fragment would be to
connect the fragment with a sentence, rewording it if
neccesary.
Fragment without subject or verb: Up the frozen slopes.
Sentence: They climb higher and higher up the frozen slopes.
At times a fragment lacks a verb, perhaps using a verbal or
verb without a helping verb. The way to correct this type
sentence fragment would be to add a verb or change a verbal
to a verb.
Fragment without a verb: Intrepid mountain climbers scaling a
tall peak.
Sentence by adding a helping verb: Intrepid mountain climbers
are scaling a tall peak.
Sentence by changing a verbal to a verb: Intrepid mountain
climbers scale a tall peak.
At times, a fragment has a subject and verb but doesn't contain
a complete thought. To create a correct sentence, usually the
fragment will need to be connected to a sentence.
Fragment lacking a complete thought: When they reach the top.
Sentence: When they reach the top, they can look forward to an
even more treacherous descent.
Now let's see how the original paragraph filled with fragments
can be a correctly formatted paragraph.
Intrepid mountain climbers scale a tall peak. They climb higher
and higher up the frozen slopes. When they reach the top, they
can look forward to an even more treacherous descent.
Finally, we have no more stumbles over sentences fragments,
which could be dangerous on steep, frozen slopes.
****Sources: 1. Writer's Companion copyright 1995 by
Printice-Hall, Inc. 2. Literature and Language copyright 2001 by
McDugal Littel. 3. Notes and lesson plans by Vivian Zabel