2. Sentence Fragments
0 Sentence fragments are sentences which are not
complete and therefore might confuse your reader.
0 While some sentence fragments can be used for
emphasis, you must first know when and how to avoid
unintentional fragments in your writing.
0 This tutorial will help you learn how to
identify unintentional sentence fragments
and correct them.

3. In this lesson, you will learn:
0 The three elements of a complete sentence.

4. What a sentence needs:
Subject
Predicate
Complete Thought

5. Subject
The subject of a sentence is who, or what, the sentence is about.
Kerri rides her bike to class.
Who is the sentence about? Kerri. So “Kerri” is our subject.

6. Predicate
The predicate of a sentence is the action word, or
verb—it tells us what the subject is doing.
Kerri rides her bike to class.
We know that Kerri is our subject—what is she doing?
Kerri rides her bike. So “rides” is our predicate.

7. Complete
Thought
The third element a complete sentence requires is that it
must express a complete thought.
“Kerri rides” has a subject and a predicate, but it doesn’t
express a complete thought—where is she riding, or what is
she riding, or why is she riding? We need more information.
Kerri rides her bike to class.
That gives us a subject, a
predicate,
and a complete thought.

8. A sentence needs three elements to be
complete.
1. It must have a subject. (Who, or what, the
sentence is about).
2. It must have a predicate. (The action word, or
verb. What is the subject doing?)
3. It must express a complete thought. (If you
aren’t sure what the sentence means, you may
have a fragment).

9. Practice Identifying Sentence Fragments
In this part of this lesson, we will practice identifying
some sentence fragments and will offer examples of how
to correct them.

10. Necessary Elements
We already know that the three things a sentence needs
to be complete are the subject, the predicate, and a
complete thought. So is the sentence below a fragment?
Mozart, at the age of eight.

11. What’s Wrong With This
Sentence?
Mozart, at the age of eight.
Do we have a subject? Yes—Mozart.
Do we have a predicate, or verb? No. At the age of
eight, what did Mozart do?
One way to correct this might be:
Mozart wrote his first symphony at the age of
eight.

12. What’s Missing ?
Always worrying about being struck by lightening.

13. What’s Wrong With This
Sentence?
Always worrying about being struck by lightening.
Do we have a predicate? Yes.
Do we have a subject? No.
Who is always worried about being struck by
lightening?
To correct this sentence, simply add a subject:
Jessica is always worried about being struck by lightening.

14. What’s Missing?
Patriots who fought in the Revolution.
Is this a sentence fragment? Let’s check.
Is there a subject? Yes. This sentence is about
patriots.
Is there a predicate? Yes. Fought is the predicate.
Finally, does the sentence express a complete thought? No.
We don’t know why we are hearing about these
Revolutionary War patriots.

15. How to Correct It
So, how do we correct this sentence?
Patriots who fought in the Revolution.
We need to make it a complete thought. There
are plenty of options. Here are two:
1. The patriots who fought in the Revolution did
not all wear the same uniforms.
2. Nearly 5,000 of the patriots who fought in the Revolution
were African-American.

16. Tips for Finding Errors
Read the essay out loud.
Read the essay backwards,
from the last sentence to the
first.
Have a friend read the essay
out loud to you.
Sometimes we are “too close” to our work. Reading it out
loud forces us to read what is actually on the page, not what
we think is on the page.

17. Review
Remember, these are the three things each sentence
should have. If any one of them is missing, you will
need to revise.

18. Sources
Don’t Give Me Any Static Please. (2009). Don’t-give-me-anystatic-please.jpg.
buckleysautocare.com/dont-give-me-any-static-please/
Freefotos.com. (2012). Diverse-Adult-Students-in-class.jpg.
http://www.freefoto.com/browse/?query=classroom
Mueller, Steve. (3 Oct. 2010). music-notes.jpg. www.planetofsuccess.com/blog.
Oaks, Linda. (7 Apr 2012 ). libertybell1.jpg. 2011. Pics4Learning.
http://pics.tech4learning.com
Parker, Mark. (07/03/2000). mark4.jpg. Pics4Learning. 7 Apr 2012
http://pics.tech4learning.com
Ransom, Kenneth. (July 2003). lightening101.jpg. Pics4Learning. 7 Apr 2012
<http://pics.tech4learning.com>
Television, OCPS.( 8 Apr 2012 ). keyboard1.jpg. 1998. Pics4Learning.
http://pics.tech4learning.com
Wikipedia. (2 April 2012). Mozart Wolfgang Amedeus.
Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart.jpg
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart