Can You Spot a Sentence Fragment?

Sentence fragments. How annoying! What’s wrong with them anyway?

Sentence fragments are some of the most common errors writers make (even the most advanced writers). They’re easy to miss, but the good news is, they’re also easy to fix.

At their most basic, sentence fragments are clauses that don’t qualify for sentence-status because they’re missing either a subject, a finite verb, or just a complete thought. They’re not independent clauses, so they can’t be sentences. They’re parts of sentences that have been cut off from the main clause.

Every sentence needs at least one subject and a finite verb. Without it, it’s only a sentence fragment.

Sometimes they’re missing a verb entirely:

The top music hits of 2020.

Not my fault.

Sometimes they’re missing a subject:

Walking with pride. (Who is walking?)

Hiding out under cover of darkness. (Who is hiding?)

Sometimes, they might be complete sentences (containing a subject and a finite verb), but they begin with a subordinating conjunction and therefore represent an incomplete thought: