What is a sentence fragment?

A sentence fragment is a group of words that doesn't have a main clause. A main clause needs a subject and a verb at least and has to be a complete thought. If the group of words does not have these three things, it is a fragment.  For example,

After she washed the dishes.

Subject - 'she'; verb -'washed'; complete thought - no.

And then the woman in the mini skirt, smoking a cigarette.

Subject - 'woman'; verb - none; complete thought - no.

so, opened the door.

Subject - none; verb - opened; complete thought - no.

Fragments Used in Conversational English

Fragments are usually bad.  You should never use a fragment in formal writing such as a school paper.  However, fragments are often used in conversation.  This is because we can safely leave out some parts of the sentence that are understood by the listener.  Today we will talk about two of these fragments: exclamations and infinitive phrase fragments.

Exclamations

These are short fragments used to get a person to pay attention to something or someone.  They can be formed with the question words how and what.  For example,

How beautiful! (I can't believe how beautiful it is.)
How warm it is outside! (I can't believe how warm it is outside.)
How he dances! (I can't believe how he dances.)

What a beautiful garden! (I can't believe what a beautiful garden this is!)
What delicious food! (I can't believe what delcious food we are eating!)
What amazing dancer your girlfriend is! (I can't believe what an amazing dancer your girlfriend is!)

Infinitive Phrase Fragments

These are short fragements used in conversation used to express an opinion or thought.  These phrases start with a to-infinitive.  For example,

To think I almost went on a date with him! (I'm disappointed with myself to think I almost went on a date with him!)
To live a life of luxury. (It would be nice to live a life of luxury.)

Do you think you understand? Let's take a short quiz.

Sentence Fragment Quiz

Change the full length sentence into a fragment that we can use in conversation.

1) I can't believe what nice weather we are having!

A) What a nice weather!
B) What nice weather!
C) What we are having nice weather!

2) It would be great to have a car like that.

A) To have car like that.
B) To have a car that likes.
C) To have a car like that.

3) I can't believe what a crazy guy he is!

A) What a crazy guy!
B) What crazy guy!
C) What he is crazy guy!

Answers

1) B) - We do not need 'a' because weather is uncountable.
2) A)
3) A) - We need 'a' because guy is countable.

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