Chapter 6: Avoiding Sentence Fragments

A sentence is defined as a group of words containing a subject， a verb， and a complete thought。 If any of these elements is missing， then the group of words isn't a sentence。 A fragment is a group of words that is punctuated like a sentence and that is trying to function as a sentence， but one of the necessary elements is missing。

There are several ways to find and correct fragments。 Any group of words functioning as a sentence should be checked for the basics。 Does it have a subject? Does it have a verb? Does it start with a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun that keeps the thought from being complete? If the answer to any of the questions is no， it is a fragment。

Correcting fragments is fairly simple and you have several options。 For a fragment that is missing a subject or verb， add the missing element。 If the problem is a subordinating conjunction， the conjunction can be removed which would make the fragment a complete sentence。 Another option is to join the fragment to another sentence either before it or after it in the paragraph creating a complex sentence。

No matter how you choose to correct the fragment， it is important for you to eliminate them from your writing。 Fragments are considered to be a major grammatical error in writing because they indicate that the writer isn't sure what a sentence is。 Readers will often not pay attention to the point a writer is XXX if the reader thinks the writer doesn't even understand how to write a complete sentence。