The Power of Sentence Fragments
Sentence fragments are powerful stylistic tools, if used properly. Read more in today’s post, then leave a comment to join this dialogue. And don’t forget to check the (New!) Community Notes section.
What are sentence fragments?
There are several distinct types of sentence fragments, categorized by what they lack (subject, verb, or complete thought). The most common types of sentence fragments include dependent clause fragments, phrase fragments (participial, infinitive, appositive), and sentence fragments that are missing a subject or a verb, which are often the result of ending or starting a sentence in the wrong place (more or less).
Here are the main types of sentence fragments:
Dependent Clause Fragment (Subordinate Clause): These fragments contain a subject and a verb but begin with a subordinating conjunction (e.g., ‘because,’ ‘although,’ ‘if,’ ‘when’), therefore conveying an incomplete thought.
Example: Because it was raining.
Participle Phrase Fragment: These fragments begin with a word ending in ‘-ing’ or ‘-ed’ (with a verb acting as an adjective) but lack a main subject and verb.
Example: Running to the store.
Infinitive Phrase Fragment: These fragments begin with ‘to’ and are followed by a verb (to + verb), but do not contain a complete thought.
Example: To improve her grades.
Missing Subject or Verb Fragment: This type of fragment includes a group of words that lack a subject, a verb, or both, making it a phrase rather than a clause.
Example: Worked all night long. (Missing subject)
Appositive Fragment: This type of fragment includes a noun phrase that renames a previous noun but is set off as its own sentence.
Example: We have a new doctor on staff. A doctor with years of experience. (The second sentence is the appositive fragment.)
Afterthought Fragment: These fragments add information to a previous sentence, often starting with words like ‘especially,’ ‘like,’ or ‘except.’
Example: The desk drawer contained a chaotic mix of office supplies. Mostly broken pencils and dried-out pens. (The second sentence is the afterthought fragment.)
Sentence fragments are also powerful stylistic tools that, when used intentionally, break grammatical rules to increase or slow down pacing, heighten emotion, and or emphasize key ideas within a written work. By mimicking the more realistic nature of human thought and speech, they can create a sense of urgency or delay, increase dramatic tension or disjointedness, and or portray a more intimate mood and setting in creative writing, advertising, and more informal prose.
Key takeaway to remember: Sentence fragments are not technically grammatically correct. They are primarily used in fiction and creative writing to evoke the more human-like qualities and overall essence of human thought and speech, which aren’t always, or ever, all that grammatically correct.
Seriously, think about it. Do you always think and speak and emote, or text, in complete, grammatically correct sentences? Of course not. Especially when you’re stressed or euphoric or scared or nervous or trying to make a point or emphasize something, etc. So why would your characters or the people you write about not use sentence fragments when they think, speak, emote, and text too?
Sentence fragments help writers capture the more relatable side of humans and what they’re doing, thinking, and saying in fiction and more informal prose and communication.
Effective Sentence Fragments in Literature
“124 was spiteful. Full of baby’s venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children.” — Beloved by Toni Morrison
“Her glazing eyes, staring out of death, to shake and bend my soul. On me alone. The ghostcandle to light her agony. Ghostly light on the tortured face. Her hoarse loud breath rattling in horror, while all prayed on their knees. Her eyes on me to strike me down.” — Ulysses by James Joyce
“What a lark! What a plunge!” — Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
“A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State’s motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY.” — A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Take a beat to consider why and how these sentence fragments work, what makes them so effective, and how you might want to emulate them.
Why Sentence Fragments Pack a Punch
Heighten Tension and Energy
Short sentence fragments can accelerate a reader’s reading speed, which can create a frantic or action-packed experience.
Emphasize Specific Details
Sentence fragments can act like spotlights, forcing readers to focus on a single, isolated image, idea, or word at a time, which can also slow down how fast they’re reading.
Create More Realistic Mood and Voice
Sentence fragments can help mimic more realistic internal thought processes, which are typically quick, disjointed, and emotional rather than perfectly structured and coherent.
Embody a Conversational Tone
Sentence fragments are also useful for simulating realistic dialogue, informal musings, or a ‘stream of consciousness’ effect.
When to Use Them
Use sentence fragments in fiction and other creative writing, advertising copy, less formal feature articles, and personal blog posts. You should try to use them when you’re struggling with writing realistic dialogue, or when you’re trying to infuse tension into a scene, and or set a specific mood in a scene. The most important thing to remember is that you use them with intention and care, not to simply avoid using correct grammar.
Consider the following example:
The heavy footsteps succeeding the second thud were now closing the distance between her and the only exit. The. Only. Exit. Footsteps that were only getting louder and louder. Closer and closer. By the millisecond. To where she was crouched behind a dented filing cabinet, her entire body trembling. And all she could think about was how terrible it would be to die here right now. All alone. In the pitch dark. Utterly terrified. Covered in blood, and her own entrails. Just like that other girl she saw. Now only two rooms away. Seriously, what’s worse than dying of fear in a place like this? In such a violent way. Nothing. She could think of nothing else worse than that. Than this.
When NOT to Use Them
Avoid using sentence fragments in formal academic papers, professional reports, and business communication, where they are more likely to be perceived as unprofessional, coercive, careless, and are more likely to reduce the strength of the arguments or information being presented.
How to Use Them Effectively
To be powerful, sentence fragments should appear deliberate. A good rule of thumb is to mix them with complete sentences, allowing the fragments to disrupt the flow of what’s being read just enough to make a point without them becoming distracting or making an entire passage too difficult to read.
Conclusion
Ultimately, while sentence fragments can serve as powerful tools for creating dramatic tension and deliberate rhythms and emphasis and moods in creative writing, they generally undermine clarity and come across as unprofessional in academic and more formal discourse. Mastering the balance between conversational, fragmented prose and complete, grammatically sound structures allows writers to control pace and impact effectively, regardless of what they’re writing. And by learning to identify missing subjects or verbs, or when to reattach or detach subordinate clauses, writers can ensure their ideas and creativity are fully expressed, polished, and persuasive, regardless of what they’re writing.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Leave a comment to join this dialogue, and don’t forget to share this post with others so they can join this dialogue too.
Remember: Your thoughtful comment on this post could be featured along with a link to your profile in the new Daily Drafts & Dialogues Community Spotlight section (below) in a future post. I’m looking forward to keeping this conversation going!
© This work is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) training. All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton; Creighton’s Compositions LLC.
Want to express your appreciation for this post?
Daily Drafts & Dialogues is fueled by loyal readers, caffeine, and shares with kind words, so any support you can offer to keep it and me going is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, thank you so much! — K.E. Creighton
Community Notes (New!)
In this new section of Daily Drafts & Dialogues, you will see additional notes on posts and what’s going on in the broader Daily Drafts & Dialogues community, more in depth questions to spur further dialogue, polls, discounts, contest opportunities, helpful links and resources, and opportunities to have your comments and work featured in the new Community Spotlight section below in future posts.
Community Spotlight
This new section will FEATURE YOUR WORK AND VOICES. Leave a thoughtful comment on a Daily Drafts & Dialogues post for a chance to have your writing, links, and profile featured here.
Egalitarian Book Club
Currently Reading: Westward Women by Alice Martin (Join the buddy read here.)
Recommended Reading Schedule:
Week 1 (May 1-10) — Chap. 1-7 (Part I)
Week 2 (May 11- 17) — Chap. 8-14 (Part II- III)
Week 3 (May 18- 24) — Chap. 15-21 (Part III- IV)
Week 4 (May 25- 31) — Part V, remaining chapters
June Pick:
What would you like to read together in June? Poll closes in 3 days!
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami
Amerkia by Franz Kafka
A Brief History of Living Forever by Jaroslav Kalfar
Daily Drafters Features and Exclusives
Paid Subscribers: Check the chat for daily writing prompts, tips, inspiration, feedback, dialogues, and other exclusive content.
SEE YOUR WRITING FEATURED HERE IN FUTURE POSTS
Learn more about what Paid Subscribers get here.
Current Special Offer: Message me right after you switch to Paid to receive your first 30 days of chat access free.
