Sentences: Complete or
Fragment?
Fourth Grade, Fifth Grade Writing
by Maggie Knutson September 6, 2017
A deeper understanding of what constitutes a complete sentence will help your young writers understand how
to create technically correct and more complex sentences. This practice will help students edit and revise their
writing.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to identify complete sentences and fragments.
Materials and preparation Key terms
Class set of Building Sentences fragment
Class set of Recognize a Fragment When You complete sentence
See One!
Projector
8 notecards with singular subjects (e.g. "the
car," "the principal," "the dog")
5 notecards with predicates that can complete
sentences for singular subjects (e.g. "melted in
the hot sun," "tripped into the port-a-potty,"
"exploded in the ocean")
5 notecards with dependent clauses (e.g. "after
going to the bathroom," "before getting sick
from drinking pool water")
Attachments
Building Sentences (PDF)
Recognize a Fragment When You See One! (PDF)
Introduction (5 minutes)
Review that, in order to be a complete sentence, a sentence needs a subject and a predicate. If a
sentence doesn’t have both, it’s a fragment.
A complete thought (or complete sentence) has a subject and a predicate. That means you can identify
a “who/what” and a “what about it.”
Project the example on the top of the worksheet Building Sentences and model finding the subject and
predicate.
Separate the subject notecards into one pile and the predicate and dependent clause notecards into
another pile. Shuffle the second pile so that the clauses and predicates are mixed up.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (15 minutes)
Tell students that you are going to take sentence parts and read them together. If they make a complete
sentence when combined, students should stand up; if they make a fragment, students stay seated.
Have a student select a card from the first pile of subjects. Read it aloud.
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Have another student select a card from the second pile. Read the subject again with the phrase on the
second card as a complete thought.
Students who agree that it’s a complete thought, or sentence, stand up. If they believe it’s a fragment,
they should remain seated.
Discuss each example, asking the questions to identify the subject and predicate.
Go through this process again until all of the cards have been used. You may recycle cards after using
them and continue to generate other random, silly sentences.
Guided Practice (10 minutes)
Have students practice identifying complete sentences with a partner using the sheet Building Sentences.
Review the answers together and clarify any confusion.
Independent working time (10 minutes)
Distribute the worksheet Recognize a Fragment When You See One!
Instruct students to complete this activity independently.
Review the answers, addressing any questions as you go.
Differentiation
Support:
Provide subjects and predicates on sentence strips and allow students to manipulate them as sentence
building blocks.
Enrichment:
Have students edit and revise written work of their peers by identifying and helping others fix their
fragments.
Assessment (5 minutes)
Write a fragment on the board. Have students revise the sentence so that it’s complete. As an added
bonus, see if they can think of multiple ways to revise it.
Review and closing (5 minutes)
DISCUSS: What happens when a reader comes across a fragment? (Point out that a fragment interrupts
comprehension because readers often will go back and reread it, distracting them from the flow of ideas
in the text.)
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Name: Date:
Building Sentences
A complete thought (or sentence) contains a subject and a predicate. That means you can identify
a “who/what” and a “what about it.”
The softball team won the game
Subject Predicate
(WHO/WHAT) (WHAT ABOUT IT)
Sometimes, sentences contain compound subjects or predicates. That means there are two subjects or
predicates, like in the example below. Circle the two subjects and the two predicates.
The pack of dogs and the garbage men chasing them ran around
the corner and into the police station parking lot.
Circle the subject and underline the predicate in each example below.
Julio and I went down to the school yard.
She got a ticket to ride the rollercoaster and then bought a slurpee.
My new shoes and socks got dirty.
My gum popped out of my mouth and fell on the floor.
My sister went to the movies and then joined her friends.
Now, create complete sentences that have…
One subject and one predicate.
___________________________________________________________________________
One subject and two predicates.
___________________________________________________________________________
Two subjects and one predicate.
___________________________________________________________________________
Two subjects and two predicates.
___________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Date:
Recognize a Fragment When You See One!
Read each example below. Circle whether it is a sentence or fragment. If it is a fragment,
make revisions to turn it into a complete sentence.
After the doctor examined the broken arm, which was broken
Sentence Fragment
in two places.
FIX:
During the baseball game, in the third inning to be exact. Sentence Fragment
FIX:
We took the short way to get to the store. Sentence Fragment
FIX:
His ex-girlfriend Samantha, the one he dated five years ago. Sentence Fragment
FIX:
A meteor from a galaxy 67 light years away. Sentence Fragment
FIX:
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