sentence fragment

American  

noun

1. a phrase or clause written as a sentence but lacking an element, as a subject or verb, that would enable it to function as an independent sentence in normative written English.

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Grammar

See sentence.

Etymology

Origin of sentence fragment

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

And there was a sentence fragment he’d crossed out, following the word spirit: “Of the divine.”

From New York Times • Jan. 21, 2024

For example, starting with the sentence fragment "an AI system can…," ChatGPT will predict that the next word should be "learn," "predict" or "understand."

From Salon • Apr. 6, 2023

For example, a sentence fragment, while technically incorrect, could be an effective way to emphasize a point.

From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021

At least one sentence fragment, such as “while animal rights activists decry the practice of animal slaughter,” would have been appropriate.

From Washington Post • Oct. 30, 2020

And there’s not a successful novelist alive who would sell so much as a single book without making use of the artful sentence fragment, the well-deployed redundancy, even the wholly invented word.

From Time • Mar. 10, 2014