Sentence Fragments

How do sentence fragments work in your overall prose approach? You know what you learned in grammar class: don’t use them. According to that dictum, the only fragment allowed is an imperative sentence. In writing a novel, the subject becomes far more complex. Sentence fragments help create emphasis, at the very least, in the same manner as exclamation points. After a run of complete sentences, no matter how much you have varied the structure of each one, a fragment stands out, drawing attention to what you are writing. 

With the modern simplification of sentence structure, I would argue that the fragment plays a larger role. You can’t very often invert the subject noun and verb, for one example, without the reader noticing how poetic (read: affected) you are. Given that your options these days are more limited, a sentence fragment can be another tool in your arsenal. Because the narrative attack is often colloquial these days, writing becomes an extension of the way we speak—and we speak in sentence fragments all the time.

Yet I don’t think the prim-haired grammar teacher was all wrong. A reader does need to ride on a flow of words. We are trying to get from one end of the book to the other, after all. A fragment is a broken sentence, so we have to stop a moment to provide context (what is missing). Too many interruptions tend to grate on the reader’s nerves after a while. Worse, like any element that smacks of the boy crying wolf, its usage can become numbing. Is someone speaking . . . oh, no, this is narrative. But it sure sounds like someone is speaking . . . (yawn).

So, what is the best way to use them? My own preference is ride along a wave for a while, allowing the full sentences to create strong forward momentum. Then a sentence fragment slips in, and I think, that’s the narrator talking to me, creating emphasis. Of course, this general idea does not preclude using a string of fragments in a row, or having a section that is more dominated by sentence fragments. I’m just thinking in terms of how I’m going to sail through the page. Occasional use of fragments roughly corresponds to how often a character comments on the storytelling. Even in the first person, they have to drive the story forward with plot events. They have to supply descriptive details to ground us in their fictional world. The more dominant the character’s thoughts, the more a fragment is employed as a tool. 

Exercise: Review a portion of your manuscript, examining solely sentence structure. If you are prone to writing full sentences, look for points of emphasis. Could you add a sentence fragment to pull the reader inside the character more? You may find that writing one leads to writing several in a row. If you are prone to writing in fragments, be honest with yourself. How long can you read hyped-up prose without becoming fatigued by having to supply what is missing? How many of those fragments could be converted into full sentences, retaining only those that truly create emphasis?

“Every great and original writer, in proportion as he is great or original, must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Copyright @ 2026, John Paine