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Writing complete sentences and correcting sentence fragments

Lesson details

Learning outcome

I can identify complete sentences and correct sentence fragments.

Key learning points

  1. A complete sentence has a subject, a verb and expresses a complete idea.
  2. A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence, lacking a subject, verb – or both.
  3. To correct sentence fragments, identify whether the subject or verb is missing and add it to the sentence.
  4. A complete sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
  5. A subordinate clause is a group of words that is not a complete sentence but adds extra information.

Keywords

  • Subject - In grammar, this is the person, place, or thing that is performing the action of the sentence.

  • Verb - a being, a doing or a having word

  • Fragment - a small part broken off or separated from something

  • Subordinate - means being lower in rank or position

  • Complete - when something has all the necessary or appropriate parts

Common misconception

That the subject of a sentence is always the person in the sentence.

A subject is the person, place, or thing that is performing the action of the sentence.

Teacher tip

You could vary the examples to peer assess their sentences in order to see how well they can identify sentence fragments or subordinate clauses in other people's work.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

6 Questions

Q1.
The person, place or thing performing the action of a sentence is .

the complete thought
Correct answer: the subject
the verb

Q2.
A sentence should begin with a .

subject
lower-case letter
Correct answer: capital letter

Q3.
At the end of a sentence you should have .

a capital letter
a comma
Correct answer: a full-stop

Q4.
The main clause in a sentence expresses .

an incomplete thought
Correct answer: a complete thought
a question

Q5.
A verb is a .

describing word
Correct answer: being, doing, or having word
person, place or thing that performs the action

Q6.
Which of the following is the correct use of an apostrophe for possession?

It was Harrys' cat.
Correct answer: It was Harry's cat.
It was Har'rys cat.

6 Questions

Q1.
A complete sentence has .

two subjects, a verb and expresses a complete thought
Correct answer: a subject, a verb and expresses a complete thought
a subject, a verb and expresses an incomplete thought

Q2.
Which of the following is a complete sentence?

Correct answer: Diana chased the mouse.
Diana chased the.
Diana skillfully and masterfully the mouse.

Q3.
A fragment is .

a being, doing or having word
something lower in rank or position
Correct answer: a small part broken off

Q4.
To fix a sentence fragment you should .

always add in a subject to the sentence
Correct answer: either add a subject or a verb
use a semi-colon to join it to the main sentence

Q5.
Subordinate means .

Correct answer: lower in rank or position
equal in rank or position
higher in rank or positon

Q6.
Which of the following sentences is correctly punctuated?

Since it was dark Alice ran home.
Since it was, dark Alice ran home.
Correct answer: Since it was dark, Alice ran home.
Since it was dark, Alice ran home

To help you plan your 7 English lesson on: Writing complete sentences and correcting sentence fragments, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...