A sentence fragment is a part of a sentence. It is not a complete sentence.
They can be hard to tell apart, though. Some complete sentences are short, and some sentence fragments are long.
Read each problem below. Decide if you think it is a sentence or a fragment.
Hover over "Sentence or fragment?" to see whether you were right.
1. John Burroughs wrote very popular essays.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
2. About birds and animals that he saw around his home.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
3. In the Catskill Mountains, which are in New York.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
4. When he wrote about bluejays, woodpeckers, and chickadees.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
5. He said that all the birds bossed each other.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
6. One bird, called a kinglet, which was the smallest bird.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
7. John Burroughs noticed that none of the birds.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
8. They will not eat lean meat.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
9. Birds like fat instead.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
10. He wrote about how woodpeckers and bluejays.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
11. Although both bluejays and woodpeckers will peck at a piece of suet.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
12. Willa Cather, who also wrote about nature in her books.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
13. Willa Cather, a famous author from Nebraska, who also wrote about nature in her books.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
14. One of her characters is Jim Burden.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
15. Whose parents have died, so he leaves Virginia and travels by train to Nebraska.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
16. Where he will live with his grandparents.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
17. In Nebraska at that time, many people were immigrants.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
18. A young Bohemian girl living near Jim's grandparents.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
19. One day Jim helps his grandmother dig potatoes.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
20. When he wants to stay at the garden by himself.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
21. She asks whether he really wants to stay.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
22. Whether he is afraid of snakes.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
23. She tells him not to be afraid of the badger.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
24. Who might peek out of a hole in a bank nearby and is as big as a possum.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
25. Grandmother goes home.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
26. With a bag of potatoes on her back and leaning forward as she walks.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
27. Sitting in the middle of the garden, Jim looks around.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
28. Bigger grasshoppers than any he has ever seen.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
29. Bigger grasshoppers than any he has ever seen hop in the vines nearby.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
30. Bigger grasshoppers than he has ever seen, hopping in the vines nearby.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
31. Bigger grasshoppers than any he has ever seen, hopping in the vines nearby, catch his attention.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
32. Bigger grasshoppers than any he has ever seen, hopping in the vines nearby, catching his attention with their acrobatics.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
33. Bigger grasshoppers than any he has ever seen are hopping in the vines nearby, catching his attention with their acrobatics.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
34. Hopping in the vines nearby, bigger grasshoppers than any he has ever seen catch his attention.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.
35. Hopping in the vines nearby, bigger grasshoppers than any he has ever seen that catch his attention.
Sentence or fragment?This is a sentence fragment.
36. Hopping in the vines nearby are bigger grasshoppers than he has ever seen that catch his attention.
Sentence or fragment?This is a complete sentence.