Fragments

The last sentence type we are going to talk about isn’t really a type at all, it’s a fragment. Fragments feel like they are just pieces of sentences. Here’s an example.

Then complete silence.

Burning for Revenge(1993)

The thing you notice about fragments is they don’t make sense by themselves, usually because they’re missing a verb group or a subject.

Here are three more fragments. Do they make sense on their own?

Gray, west.

Treasure Island(1883)

And all night.

The Story of Tracy Beaker(1991)

"And bring Pathfinder and Sojourner rover back with him."

The Martian(2014)

Now here are the same snippets with some more context. Do the fragments make more sense with the added context?

He turned and spoke to us, "Doctor's watch on the lookout. Dr. Livesey take the north side, if you please; Jim, the east; Gray, west."

Treasure Island(1883)

Once they locked me up all day long. And all night.

The Story of Tracy Beaker(1991)

"He can get there and back with supplies on hand."

"And bring Pathfinder and Sojourner rover back with him," Mindy added.

The Martian(2014)

It has a verb, yes, but there's no subject (the other necessary component of a clause). Who is bringing the equipment back?

This is an interesting example of a fragment because in another context it actually could be a complete sentence. Let's change the first line of dialogue:

"Go there and bring him back."

"And bring Pathfinder and Sojourner rover back with him," Mindy added.

Now it's a command, not a fragment, because of the way we interpret bring—Mindy is telling someone to bring the equipment back. (And remember that commands always have "you" as an implied subject.)

In the original, Mindy is giving information—the astronaut can bring the equipment back. It's a fragment because she doesn't include the 'subject' (the astronaut). The other speaker already established who they're talking about, so Mindy doesn't need to say it. This is very common in dialogue.

Fragments are often used to continue a pattern (like the sea captain's list of locations: the north, the east, the west) or for emphasis (because they often sound punchy).

Here’s a snippet with an exclamation and a punchy fragment. Let's try writing our own variations.

"Tom !"

No answer.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer(1876)

“Walter!”

Silence.

"Hello?"

Just a groan.

"No!"

Too late.

Try writing your own exclamation and fragment pair.

Write another exclamation fragment pair.

Both exclamations and fragments aren't made of complete clauses. But we've said exclamations are sentences and fragments aren't really sentences. So what's the difference?

Exclamations are self-contained. The exclamation "Oh!" doesn't require anything else to make its meaning clear. Same with "Hello?", "How mysterious!" or any other exclamation.

Fragments are not self-contained. Their meaning only makes sense in context. It's similar to how implied subjects work—the information is in another sentence, so we don't need to repeat it.

Once they locked me up all day long. And (they locked me up) all night.

Or the writer might just be leaving out words that don't really add any meaning in order to make their writing more punchy:

(There was) No answer.

Four and a half types of sentence