BlackHippyChick Day: Sentence Fragments (and a Writing Prompt)

One of the most common errors I see in this workshop is the use of sentence fragments. These are sentences that don’t have a subject or verb. Put simply, they are incomplete sentences. Here are some examples:

Ran to the bakery to buy a cupcake. (Who ran to the bakery? It must have been SpanishRed, obviously, so the sentence has omitted the subject. It should read, “SpanishRed ran to the bakery to buy a cupcake, but Woody should have bought her some, like, ages ago.)

My favourite cupcake flavour. (What is your favourite cupcake flavour? The verb is missing. It should obviously read, “Caramel and vanilla is my favourite cupcake flavour because that’s what SpanishRed said I should like the best.”

Here’s another fragment: For better or worse. (What is for better or worse?)

And here’s another: The delicious cupcake. (What about the delicious cupcake? We often see this error in poetry. It can work if used intentionally, but never use a fragment in poetry accidentally.)

And another: The delicious cupcake, the one I loved the most. (What about the delicious cupcake you loved the most? This is commonly referred to as an abandoned clause because the writer started the thought process, but failed to finish it.)

So how do you fix fragments? One shortcut is often viable: Look at the sentence preceding or following the fragment to find out if it can complete it. Here’s an example:

“I forgot to bring my dog along. On the day of the event,” is easily fixed by simply removing the period. You will find this is often the case, so look for the possibility first. In other cases, the solution is obvious: put the verb or noun back into the fragment. You’ll probably find it floating around in your brain.

I haven’t been calling you on your fragments in our critiques, but now that we’ve covered them, I’ll be highlighting them in your work.

It’s a holiday, so let’s do a fun writing exercise today. Write a New Year’s Resolution list for a famous movie or book character.