Fragments are sentences that lack a subject, a verb, or a complete
thought, and therefore are not real sentences.
Fragment: All night in the house. There is no subject,verb or complete though here and leaves us asking, “What happened in the house?” “Who did it?”
Sentence: We partied all night in the house. There is a subject, verb and a complete thought.
Some kinds of fragments may have a subject and a verb, but need more information to be complete.
Fragment: As Luke was kicking the ball. There is a subject and a verb, but not enough information because of the word “as.”
Sentence: As Luke was kicking the ball, he saw his friend walk by. Now the sentence makes more scenes.
Fragments do not easily stand out. Fragments can be hidden because it fit nicely with the other sentences.
"Anorexia, a growing problem among teens, is a type of eating disorder. Where people starve themselves for fear of becoming overweight. Learning about this problem is the first step in preventing it. Identify fragments by looking at each sentence individually, and ask if it makes sense on its own."
By separating each sentence one can see them a bit easier.
The second sentence does is not complete because of the
word “where.” A common way to fix this is to add the sentence that comes before or after.
Anorexia, a growing problem among teens, is a type of eating disorder where people starve themselves for fear of becoming overweight.
Another way to find a fragment sentence is to ask yourself if a person would completely understand your sentence if you told it to them?
If you go up and said, “Whenever I am read or write.” Will a person understand what you just said? No. This is a fragment.
