The Sentence Fragment: Use It Judiciously. To Make a Point.

Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content and has gained 600K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.

An online devotional for writers

A Word From The Word

These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel. Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. (Proverbs 1:1-2, NLT)

A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence. Maybe it’s missing a noun. Or a verb.

People speak in fragments. Take a few moments to listen to the conversation around you and you’ll understand what I mean.

A sentence fragment is spoken in context, which allows you to figure out its meaning. But too many sentence fragments in your writing can be confusing for the reader. When writers write dialogue, they convert conversational fragments to full sentences to make content more readable.

Good writers don’t eliminate sentence fragments completely from their content. They use sentence fragments for emphasis.

To make a point.

A writer’s goal is similar to Solomon’s purpose in writing the Proverbs: “to help people understand insights.”

Clarity and emphasis are keys to bringing about understanding. Which is why writers occasionally use a sentence fragment.

• To bring about understanding.
• To emphasize a truth.
• To make a point.

A Wise Word

Use a sentence fragment judiciously. To make a point.

A Word To Pray

Heavenly Father,

I want to help my readers understand the truths you give me. Show me how to use writing devices, like a sentence fragment, with wisdom.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

---

More Devotionals for Writers

The Run-On Sentence: Don't Make Readers Work So Hard ...

The Mixed Metaphor: Confusing or Memorable?

The Synonym: A Clever Way to Repeat Yourself and Write Persuasively ...

The Superlative: Don’t Resort to Them As an Excuse  ...

The Preposition: A Little Word with Big Connections ...

The Metaphor: Use It to Express an Intangible Idea Tangibly ...

Wise Words: Devotionals for Writers ...

More Devotionals for Writers on our Pinterest board ...

Join other Christian Writers in the Writing for Ministries Community ...

Free Mini-Course: Getting Started Writing Devotionals ...

Get more devotionals for writers delivered to your inbox each week:

Return from The Sentence Fragment to Nonprofit Copywriter home

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Powered by SBI! Learn more here.