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A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence. Every sentence must have a subject and verb; a fragment is missing one of these essential parts. Often, a fragment is a phrase or subordinate clause that should be part of another sentence. Other times, a fragment represents only part of a thought the writer wants to express. For example:
Pain relievers with extra ingredients such as caffeine.
These elements can be combined to create a sentence. For example:
Though they are more expensive, pain relievers with extra ingredients such as caffeine offer no advantages over aspirin or acetaminophen.
Sometimes a writer creates fragments by mistakenly separating a subordinate clause from the independent clause.
Starting diesel engines is difficult. Because high pressures are required inside the cylinders.
Even though the fragment has a subject (high pressures) and a verb (are required), "because" is a subordinate conjunction. The subordinate clause "because high pressures are required inside the cylinders" should be connected to the sentence that precedes this fragment. The fragment should be connected to the independent clause preceding it:
Starting diesel engines is difficult because high pressures are required inside the cylinders.
