![]() If you are telling a story, a few fragments might suit your purpose and style well, but if you are writing an essay or crafting a business document, it’s best to steer clear of them. Using sentence fragments is considered poor grammar and. And he did is a sentence beginning with a conjunction, and it’s a one-sentence paragraph.Īs always, judge for yourself who your audience is and how much wiggle room you have for breaking the rules. A sentence fragment in writing is an incomplete sentence that does not express a complete thought. Your high school English teacher would find three things wrong with this description. All the same, he was determined to astound us. No one thought that Ethan could make the jump it was just too high. Journalists, bloggers, and fiction writers often use them. That said, a fragment within a clear context can sometimes serve a valid dramatic purpose. Without question, you should avoid sentence fragments in formal situations and academic writing. READ MORE: When (and how) to fix sentence fragments Stylistic sentence fragments Fragments can sound as if they are carelessly blurted out. It’s a subtle psychological difference, but if you are corresponding in a formal setting, it is worth taking care to write complete sentences. ![]() Adding the subject will build a stronger, more confident-sounding sentence: Another famous example of a short-but-complete sentence is “Jesus wept.”Īvoiding sentence fragments not only makes your writing easier to read, but it can also make you sound more polished in polite correspondence. Nothing in the sentence demands further explanation. I ran may be a short thought, but it has a subject ( I) and a verb ( ran). But that doesn’t mean that short sentences can’t be complete. In that example, making the sentence longer was the solution. Now the fragment has become a dependent clause attached to a sentence that has a subject ( the party) and a verb ( was canceled). To complete it, we need further explanation:īecause of the rain, the party was canceled. It leaves us wondering what happened because of the rain. On its own, because of the rain doesn’t form a complete thought. Here is a glaring example of a sentence fragment: For example, you could hide under their beds and wait for dark.īoth remedies result in structurally sound sentences. Salt, selenium, arsenic, radon and radium in the water in the gravel in your bones.There are many ways to frighten little brothers. "The hawk sailing by at 200 feet, a squirming snake in its talons.Over the main entrance the words CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State's motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY." Brave New World, Aldous Huxley ![]() "A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories.Megalomaniac hatred and desire for revenge." - Moonraker, Ian Fleming "He looked levelly at the great red face across the desk. ![]() Time to drive on, toward Strathpeffer, friends, a phone call from my father." - "Culloden," Only the Dance by Judith Kitchen The sky hunkers down, presses, like a lover, against the land. Not a sandbag, not a nail or a scrap of wire." - "The Vietnam in Me," The New York Times Magazine by Tim O'Brien Dive into a few intentional fragment sentences made by professional writers to convey a specific message. Sometimes, authors intentionally use sentence fragments to emphasize their writing or convey something harsh or disjointed.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |