LEO: Literacy Education Online Common Causes of Sentence Fragments

A sentence fragment occurs when an incomplete sentence is used instead of a complete sentence. Because there are common causes for sentence fragments, the following pointers may help in identifying and revising them:

• When using "ing" words, you must have a helping verb and a subject. An "ing" word is not a definite verb; therefore, it will not function by itself to form a complete sentence.

  Fragment	Sentence
  A cure for the disease being researched.	A cure for the disease was being researched.

  Reminders: A helping verb joins with the main verb to express an action or state of being. Am, are, be, been, is, was, and were are some common helping verbs. A subject is the person or thing which does the action in the sentence.

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• An infinitive form of a verb will not make a complete sentence. Like "ing" words, an infinitive is not a definite verb either. An infinitive is the combination of to and the base form of a verb: to see, to be, to do. Infinitives are used in sentences, but they require a definite verb to function as the action in the sentence.

  Fragment	Sentence
  The center to plan a mission statement.	The center plans to develop a mission statement.

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• Subordinators are words that cause one part of a sentence to be dependent on another part of the sentence. They can be a cause of sentence fragments if they subordinate a clause that does not have a main clause for the subordinate clause to be dependent upon.

  Fragment	Sentence
  If the criteria are not met.	If the critieria are not met, the FDA will not approve the medicine.

  Some Common Subordinators
  (also known as subordinating conjunctions)

  after	before	so that	until	which
  although	how	than	what	while
  as	if	that	when	who
  as if	in order that	though	where	whom
  as long as	provided that	till	whereas	whose
  because	since	unless	whether	why

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• An explanatory phrase or group of explanatory words does not make a complete sentence on its own.

  Fragment	Sentence
  The teenagers like to watch sports. Such as hockey, when they are on television.	The teenagers like to watch sports, such as hockey, when they are on television.

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This page was created by Becky Marchant, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN; it was revised by Jill Cadwell. Donella Westphal coded it for the web. It may be copied for educational purposes only. If you copy this document, please include our copyright notice and the names of the writers; if you revise it, please add your name(s) to the list of writers.

Last update: 18 August 2000

URL: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/punct/fragmentcauses.html