Sentence fragment.

Sentence fragment.

• A. Incomplete sentence
• B. Complete sentence
• C. Independent clause
• D. Compound sentence

Answer: (A)

A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence because it doesn’t express a complete thought and lacks a main clause. In standard writing, a sentence must have at least one independent clause—a group with a subject and a verb that can stand alone and convey a full idea. That’s why “Because of the rain” is a fragment: it leaves you hanging and cannot stand by itself. To fix it, you attach a main clause to complete the thought, such as “Because of the rain, the game was postponed,” or turn it into a complete sentence on its own, like “The rain caused the game to be postponed.” In contrast, a complete sentence contains at least one independent clause and can stand alone; an independent clause is a clause that expresses a complete thought and could function as a sentence by itself; a compound sentence combines two or more independent clauses, usually with a conjunction or semicolon.

A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence because it doesn’t express a complete thought and lacks a main clause. In standard writing, a sentence must have at least one independent clause—a group with a subject and a verb that can stand alone and convey a full idea. That’s why “Because of the rain” is a fragment: it leaves you hanging and cannot stand by itself. To fix it, you attach a main clause to complete the thought, such as “Because of the rain, the game was postponed,” or turn it into a complete sentence on its own, like “The rain caused the game to be postponed.”

In contrast, a complete sentence contains at least one independent clause and can stand alone; an independent clause is a clause that expresses a complete thought and could function as a sentence by itself; a compound sentence combines two or more independent clauses, usually with a conjunction or semicolon.