A minor sentence is an incomplete sentence that still makes sense without all the necessary information.
What is a minor sentence? How and why would you use it?
Minor sentences
An incomplete sentence that doesn’t have all the elements needed to make a full sentence, but still makes sense.
No pain, no gain!
We understand this sentence to mean: if you don’t work hard, you won’t make any progress, even though it doesn’t actually contain any verbs that tell us this, like 'work', or ‘progress'.
Minor sentences are often informal, but they can also create urgency, tension, or easily express emotion.
“I’ve booked us dinner tonight. 7pm sharp.”
“Good grief! Look at the prices on their menu!”
“Disappointing. Let’s go somewhere else then.”
Carol Ann Duffy’s poem, 'In Mrs Tilscher’s Class', explores the positive experience she had in a nurturing primary school:
"The classroom glowed like a sweet shop. Sugar paper. Coloured shapes.”
Sweet shops are places of wonder and temptation for children, and Duffy extends this idea by using minor sentences to nostalgically list snapshots of her memories.
Being in Mrs Tilscher’s classroom was an experience of sensory overload, much the same experience you’d have as a child in a sweet shop.
Minor Sentences.
Good job!
The end.
Wrap!
Sentences aren't always full. Minor sentences, also known as fragments, are a kind of sentence that is often missing a main verb or a subject. They often help to:
- create a conversational effect
- emphasise a point
- create drama
- show surprise
Examples
- 'She looked as carefully as she could, but found nothing. Absolutely nothing.'
- 'I needed help. Fast!'
- 'Imagine this. You're trapped. Cold. Lonely.'
- 'No pain, no gain.'
- 'The more the merrier.'
- 'First come, first served.'
- 'Like father, like son.'
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