Writers use sentence fragments for emphasis and other stylistic reasons, but over using incomplete sentences confuses the reader. You also should avoid incomplete sentences in academic or professional writing. The three major components of a complete sentence are a subject, verb and complete idea
Check for Grammatical Completeness
The two basic components of a complete sentence are a subject and a verb. Although these two things don't always make a complete sentence, grammatical completeness is a good place to start to avoid incomplete sentences. The verb is the action that takes place, and the subject is the one doing the action. For example, "I coughed," is a complete sentence. The subject, I, performed the action of coughing.
Check for a Complete Idea
The other major component to a complete sentence is that it expresses a complete idea. This means that the entire meaning of a sentence is contained within that sentence. A clause may have a subject and verb but still not express a complete idea. This often happens with subordinate clauses, where the meaning of the clause depends on an independent clause.
For example, "When I coughed," is not a complete sentence because the idea expressed in the sentence hasn't been completed. Turning it into "When I coughed, the cat woke up," adds the necessary information to complete the idea.
Knowing common subordinating conjunctions, such as "when," helps identify subordinate clauses.
Transitive vs. Intransitive Verbs
Another pitfall in making complete sentences is due to transitive verbs. The meaning of a transitive verb depends on a direct object. The direct object of a sentence is the thing that the action is being done to. Intransitive verbs do not require a direct object to complete their meaning.
For example, "I took," is an incomplete sentence. The verb "took" is a transitive verb; in order to complete the idea in the phrase, you must include what was taken.
Resources
If you aren't sure whether a verb is transitive of intransitive, look it up in the dictionary. Dictionaries often note which type of verb a word is. If it's a transitive verb, you know it requires a direct object. A list of subordinating conjunctions and prepositions is also useful for checking sentence completeness. Both subordinate clauses and prepositional phrases need an independent clause to complete their meaning
.
Check for Grammatical Completeness
The two basic components of a complete sentence are a subject and a verb. Although these two things don't always make a complete sentence, grammatical completeness is a good place to start to avoid incomplete sentences. The verb is the action that takes place, and the subject is the one doing the action. For example, "I coughed," is a complete sentence. The subject, I, performed the action of coughing.
Check for a Complete Idea
The other major component to a complete sentence is that it expresses a complete idea. This means that the entire meaning of a sentence is contained within that sentence. A clause may have a subject and verb but still not express a complete idea. This often happens with subordinate clauses, where the meaning of the clause depends on an independent clause.
For example, "When I coughed," is not a complete sentence because the idea expressed in the sentence hasn't been completed. Turning it into "When I coughed, the cat woke up," adds the necessary information to complete the idea.
Knowing common subordinating conjunctions, such as "when," helps identify subordinate clauses.
Transitive vs. Intransitive Verbs
Another pitfall in making complete sentences is due to transitive verbs. The meaning of a transitive verb depends on a direct object. The direct object of a sentence is the thing that the action is being done to. Intransitive verbs do not require a direct object to complete their meaning.
For example, "I took," is an incomplete sentence. The verb "took" is a transitive verb; in order to complete the idea in the phrase, you must include what was taken.
Resources
If you aren't sure whether a verb is transitive of intransitive, look it up in the dictionary. Dictionaries often note which type of verb a word is. If it's a transitive verb, you know it requires a direct object. A list of subordinating conjunctions and prepositions is also useful for checking sentence completeness. Both subordinate clauses and prepositional phrases need an independent clause to complete their meaning
.