Sentences in North American academic English use at least one subject and at least one verb to express a complete idea (as in "Peacocks are loud"). An incomplete sentence is a fragment or a sentence part: it might have a subject but not a verb or it may be missing a subject. For example, the fragment below is missing a subject:
- Because peacocks are loud.
By contrast, in the sentence "Because peacocks are loud, I can hear them before I see them", the subject "I" in the last part of the sentence is added to the fragment "because peacocks are loud" to form a complete idea.
Here are some more examples:
- In just three days.
- After they trained for three months.
- A chance, perhaps, to win back the championship
Sometimes, the subject or verb in a fragment is located in the sentence just before or after the sentence fragment. Often a fragment can be inserted into another sentence to complete the idea.
- Everyone is excited to start the season in just three days.
- After they trained for three months, the team in better condition than ever before.
In some case, it may be necessary to add a subject:
- They have a chance to win back the championship.
To review these examples in more detail, try this exercise, and for more information, see: Sentence Fragments.
