Creative Writing Challenge: The Broken Lamp

What happened to the lamp?

The lamp that tipped on its side shattered. What type of sentence is this?

Answer:

The statement "The lamp that tipped on its side shattered" qualifies as a complete sentence.

The sentence "The lamp that tipped on its side shattered" qualifies as a complete sentence because it meets all the criteria of a grammatically correct sentence. It has a subject (the lamp) and two verbs (tipped and shattered), making it a complete thought.

On the other hand, a sentence fragment lacks one or more of these necessary components and cannot stand on its own as a complete sentence. For example, "Tipped on its side shattered" is a sentence fragment as it is missing a clear subject.

Effective writing generally avoids sentence fragments, except when used deliberately for stylistic effect in creative writing or advertising.