Complete
Sentences and Sentence Fragments
When you are talking, you do not always have
to use complete sentences. Sometimes you can answer
a question with just one or two words:
“Where?”
“My dog.”
“Yes.”
Pay attention the next time you have a conversation
with someone. Notice how often you answer each
other with just a few words.
However, when you are writing, you need to use
complete sentences. You need to make sure
your reader understands what you are talking about.
Definition:
A sentence is a group of words that expresses
a complete thought.
Which of the following groups of words expresses
a complete thought?
- Julie wrote
- Wrote a story
- Julie wrote a story.
The third group tells us something very clearly.
It is a complete thought.
It doesn’t leave us wondering what Julie
wrote.
It doesn’t leave us wondering who wrote
the story.
It is a complete sentence.
Sentence fragments do not express a complete
thought. They really don’t make sense, because
there is something left out. A sentence fragment
will leave the reader wondering what happened
to rest of the sentence.
These are sentence fragments:
- Because whales breathe air
- Last night when I was walking
- A strong wind and flashes of lightening
These sentence fragments leave you wondering,
“Then what?”
Definition:
A sentence fragment does not express a complete
thought.
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