it a complete sentence or a fragment?

Lesson Introduction

Is It a Complete Sentence or a Fragment?

Sometimes a group of words looks like a sentence—but it might be missing an important part. A complete sentence must express a whole thought.

A complete sentence has:

1. a subject (who/what it’s about)

2. a predicate/verb (what the subject does or is)

3. a complete idea (it makes sense by itself)

A fragment is not a complete sentence because it is missing:

• a subject, or

• a verb, or

• a complete thought

Examples

• Complete sentence: The dog barked loudly.

• Fragment (missing a verb): The dog in the backyard.

• Fragment (missing a subject): Ran to the store.

• Fragment (dependent clause): Because I was tired.

Today, we will practice deciding whether each group of words is a complete sentence or a fragment by checking for the subject, the verb, and a complete thought.