Phrases are groups of words that lack a subject, a verb, or both (31l). When verbal phrases, prepositional phrases, noun phrases, and appositive phrases are punctuated like sentences, they become fragments. To revise these fragments, attach them to an independent clause, or make them a separate sentence.

With discussions afterward is a prepositional phrase, not a sentence. The editing combines the phrase with an independent clause.

A strict set of regulations for builders and corporations is an appositive phrase renaming the noun zoning laws. The editing attaches the fragment to the sentence containing that noun.

To recuperate and to take care of the baby includes verbals, not verbs. The revision—adding a subject (she) and a verb (did)—turns the fragment into a separate sentence.

Fragments beginning with transitions

If you introduce an example or explanation with one of the following transitions, be certain you write a sentence, not a fragment.

The second word group is a phrase, not a sentence. The editing combines it with an independent clause.