Fragments are incomplete sentences that lack a subject, a verb, or both, or do not include all the phrases necessary to make a complete idea. A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence that is missing another necessary part to make it complete. Fragments can be difficult to spot because they can look like complete sentences with a capital letter at the beginning and ending punctuation. However, for a sentence to be truly complete, it must contain an independent clause, which tells the whole story even when isolated from its context.

There are two ways to fix a fragment: change it into a complete sentence by adding and changing words, or connect it to another sentence that comes before or after it. Fixing a sentence fragment involves giving it the components it lacks or fastening it onto an independent clause.

Some fragments are not clearly pieces of sentences that have been left unattached to the main clause; they are written as main clauses but lack a subject or main verb. Fragments can often be avoided with careful proofreading.

It is important to avoid sentence fragments in formal situations and academic writing. However, fragments can be used in some types of writing, such as fiction and poetry, to make the writing sound more like people talking.