Sentence Fragments
📋 What it is
A complete sentence needs a subject and a verb and expresses a full thought; a fragment is missing one.
🗣️ Coach says
A fragment is a piece pretending to be a sentence: “Because I was late.” — it leaves you hanging. BOLT writes fragments when it starts with because/which/running. Find the missing piece.
🧠 Memory hook
Subject + verb + a complete thought = a sentence. Missing one = a fragment.
😂 Giggle
Why did the quotation marks throw a party?
Someone finally said something worth quoting!
😲 Whoa!
Skilled writers use fragments on PURPOSE for punch — but you have to know the rule to break it well.
🖍️ Grade BOLT-3000's edit for fragments.
You're the teacher — mark BOLT-3000's work, then reveal how you did. (Grading a robot: all the skill, none of the sting.)
BOLT wrote: “Running down the hall to catch the bus.”
✗ Needs a fix — fragment — no subject/main verb: “She was running down the hall to catch the bus.”
The phrase lacks a subject + main verb, so it isn't a complete thought.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Turn the fragment “Because it rained” into a complete sentence.