#What does sentence fragment mean license#
#What does sentence fragment mean series#

For example, the sentence 'I laughed' only consists of two words. Sometimes, sentence fragments may be mistaken for short sentences. This will show you how you could fix a sentence fragment to ensure it makes grammatical sense.įragment: Want apple juice.Complete: We want apple juice.įragment: A time of great joy.Complete: It was a time of great joy.įragment: Because of the sun.Complete: Because of the sun, I had to wear sunglasses.įragment: Looking forward to it.Complete: I am looking forward to it.įragment: The upset child.Complete: The upset child cried.įragment: Which is fun.Complete: I play basketball, which is fun.įragment: Is walking home.Complete: The student is walking home.įragment: They lunch after work.Complete: They ate lunch after work.įragment: For better or for worse.Complete: I'll stay by your side, for better or for worse.įragment: Went to the park this morning.Complete: I went to the park this morning.įragment: My sister's cat.Complete: My sister's cat is sleeping.įragment: So I left early.Complete: I didn't enjoy the party, so I left early.įragment: Recommend the movie.Complete: I'd recommend the movie.įragment: Kathy and Freya at school.Complete: Kathy and Freya met at school.įragment: Although I like chocolate.Complete: Although I like chocolate, I prefer candy. Beneath the fragments are examples of complete sentences. Here are some examples of the three types of sentence fragments. 2 - Sentence fragments are not complete sentences. For example, consider the sentence, 'Because I slept through my alarm, I woke up late.' It contains the subordinate clause 'because I slept through my alarm.' It relies on the independent clause 'I was late for school' to make sense.įig. It must rely on an independent clause to make sense. For example, the sentence 'I went to the shops, and I bought a magazine' contains two independent clauses:īoth of these clauses are joined by a conjunction and comma and make sense on their own.Ī subordinate clause (also called a dependent clause) is a part of a sentence that cannot stand alone.

Ask your instructor.What are subordinate and independent clauses?Īn independent clause is part of a sentence - or a complete sentence - that makes sense on its own. Perhaps your final research paper in English Composition is not the place to experiment - or, then again, maybe it is.

#What does sentence fragment mean license#

In a New York minute.Īs long as you are clearly in control of the situation, this is permissible, but the freedom to exercise this stylistic license depends on the circumstances. Harrison Ford has said he would be more than willing to take on another Indiana Jones project. There are occasions when a sentence fragment can be stylistically effective, exactly what you want and no more. the more powerful speaker, he lost the case because he didn't understand the jury. We need an independent clause to follow up this dependent clause.

This sentence fragment has a subject, he, and two verbs, had and was, but it cannot stand by itself because of the dependent word (subordinating conjunction) even though. It may even have a subject-verb relationship, but it has been subordinated to another idea by a dependent word and so cannot stand by itself: Even though he had the better arguments and was by far the more powerful speaker. Remember that an -ing verb form without an auxiliary form to accompany it can never be a verb. It may have most of the makings of a sentence but still be missing an important part of a verb string: Some of the students working in Professor Espinoza's laboratory last semester.

It describes something, but there is no subject-verb relationship: Working far into the night in an effort to salvage her little boat.This is a verbal phrase that wants to modify something, the real subject of the sentence (about to come up), probably the she who was working so hard. This sentence accomplishes a great deal in terms of placing the reader in time and place, but there is no subject, no verb.

#What does sentence fragment mean series#

It may locate something in time and place with a prepositional phrase or a series of such phrases, but it's still lacking a proper subject-verb relationship within an independent clause: In Japan, during the last war and just before the armistice. There are several reasons why a group of words may seem to act like a sentence but not have the wherewithal to make it as a complete thought. It does not contain even one independent clause.

If your computer is equipped with PowerPoint, click on the PowerPoint icon to the right for a brief PowerPoint presentation on Sentence Fragments.Ī SENTENCE FRAGMENT fails to be a sentence in the sense that it cannot stand by itself.