Fragment Red Flags

Dependent word fragments can be the trickiest to spot because they generally do contain a subject and a verb (which would indicate a complete sentence were there not a dependent word there). Anytime you see a dependent word, you should check the sentence to make sure it has a complete thought. However, there are a number of other words and types of words that you should also think of as "red flags" if they are at or near the opening of a sentence because they often lead to fragments.

  • verbs that end in "ing" (such as "walking")
  • verbs that have "to" in front of them (such as "to walk")                
  • for example
  • especially
  • including
  • such as

*It should be noted that if the only verbs a sentence contains are verbs that end in "ing" or verbs that have "to" in front of them, it is missing a technical verb and is a fragment