diff between sentence fragment and a phrase

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vishal.pathak: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 176; Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:32 am; Thanked: 5 times

by vishal.pathak » Mon Nov 28, 2011 2:36 am

What is the difference between sentence fragment and a phrase?

Regards,
Vishal

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avik.ch: Legendary Member; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:15 amFollowed by: 32 members; Thanked: 149 times; GMAT Score:760

by avik.ch » Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:42 am

Every complete sentence/clause needs an action verb in order to exists independently. A fragment is those kind of sentence that lacks an action verb.

A phrase do not exist independently and hence it do not have an action verb.

The term "fragment" is an error that occur when a sentence is written without a main working verb.
A phrase is not an error, its a part of a sentence/clause.

I hope this helps

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vishal.pathak: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 176; Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:32 am; Thanked: 5 times

by vishal.pathak » Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:58 am

avik.ch wrote:Every complete sentence/clause needs an action verb in order to exists independently. A fragment is those kind of sentence that lacks an action verb.

A phrase do not exist independently and hence it do not have an action verb.

The term "fragment" is an error that occur when a sentence is written without a main working verb.
A phrase is not an error, its a part of a sentence/clause.

I hope this helps

So basically, none of these 2 have a verb. If this is true them how do we differentiate between the 2

Regards,
Vishal

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avik.ch: Legendary Member; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:15 amFollowed by: 32 members; Thanked: 149 times; GMAT Score:760

by avik.ch » Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:40 am

If a part of a sentence require a clause but there is no working verb then its a fragment. For example :

main clause + in that + subordinate clause --- in this type you need to clause, but if you find that an action verb is missing in any of the clause then that is a fragment. for example :

This model explains all known subatomic particles, some of which were only recently discovered. - without "were" the second part would be a fragment as you require a clause instead of a phrase.

or..

a complete sentence without a verb - fragment.

You dont have to understand between the two, you just have to understand what part of the sentence requires what.

I hope this helps

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Gotama: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 6; Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2011 4:53 am; Thanked: 1 times

by Gotama » Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:47 am

The simple version:

A fragment is a string of words that is an incomplete sentence. Usually this is because it is missing a verb.

A phrase is a group of words that can be used in a sentence.

The complicated version:

A sentence fragment (or simply "fragment") is an incomplete part of a sentence. If someone says that a string of words is a "sentence fragment" rather than a sentence, they mean that it is not a grammatically complete sentence.

In everyday speech, "phrase" can refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words that form a constituent - a single unit in the syntax of the sentence.

This means that all phrases can be considered fragments, but not all fragments are phrases.

For example:

"My black cat is happy" is a sentence.
"My black cat" is a phrase, and is also a fragment.
"black cat is" is a frament, but not a phrase (it is neither a complete noun phrase, or verb phrase)

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renecrites: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2024 7:34 pm

Re: diff between sentence fragment and a phrase

by renecrites » Wed Apr 03, 2024 7:39 pm

If you can't understand the basic meaning of the group of words without additional context, it's likely a fragment.

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knewunreliable: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2024 1:00 am

Re: diff between sentence fragment and a phrase

by knewunreliable » Wed Jun 12, 2024 1:09 am

The key difference is that a sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence, while a phrase is a grammatical unit that is a component of a complete sentence. Phrases cannot stand alone, but sentence fragments lack the necessary elements to be a complete, independent sentence.

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hornetbasalt: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2024 8:39 pm

Re: diff between sentence fragment and a phrase

by hornetbasalt » Mon Jun 24, 2024 8:53 pm

knewunreliable wrote: ↑
Wed Jun 12, 2024 1:09 am
The key difference is that a sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence, while a phrase is a grammatical unit that is a component of a complete sentence. Phrases cannot stand alone, but sentence fragments lack the necessary elements to be a complete, independent sentence.

i agree

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