Contrary to what some pros will have you believe, everyone can end up writing in sentence fragments. Yep, this type of poor construction is not just restricted to lowly amateurs and less-skilled non-writer folks.
First Drafts
Because it’s smart practice to work through your first draft fast (since you’ll edit and run your proofreading software later, anyway), ending up with sentence fragments isn’t that unusual. In fact, most folks will likely find themselves with some regularly. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer; it just means you’re letting yourself loose while drafting. That happens to be a good thing.
Editing
Some sentence fragments also occur during editing. Typically, this happens when writers break up excessively long sentences, mistakenly leaving one that can’t stand on its own.
Spotting And Fixing Fragments
How do you identify sentence fragments? Put them through a simple test:
- Does the sentence have a verb?
- Does the sentence have a subject?
- Does the sentence make sense standing alone?
If you answer “No” to any of the above questions, then you’ve got a fragment. To fix it, there are two common ways:
- Add a comma and connect it to the sentence either preceding or succeeding it. Do this only if the resulting sentence won’t be too long.
- Add the necessary subject or verb to the construction, effectively turning it into a standalone sentence.
Tags: fragments, sentence fragments
