A sentence fragment is a phrase, usually lacking either a subject or a verb, which prevents it from being a complete sentence. One easy way to check for fragments is the “Who’s Doing What?” test. For example, examine the following simple sentence:
 
I rode my bike.
 
We can easily see “who” is doing “what” in this sentence. “I” is the subject of the sentence (“who”), “rode” is the verb (“doing”), and “my bike” is the object (“what”). The following examples show different types of sentence fragments and how to correct them.
 
 
Fragments are caused by a sentence lacking a verb:
 
Example: We visited the college campus. Some professors and other students.
 
To correct this fragment, add a verb and any other needed words to attach the fragment to the first sentence.
 
Solution: We visited the college campus and spoke to some of our professors and other students.
 
 
Fragments caused by a sentence lacking a subject:
 
Example: The chorus walked onstage for their curtain call. Held hands and bowed together.
 
To correct this fragment, add a subject to the beginning of the second sentence. If the subject is the same as the previous sentence, use a pronoun. 
 
Solution: The chorus walked onstage for their curtain call. They held hands and bowed together.

 
 
 
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