An incomplete sentence caused by missing subject or verb is called a sentence fragment.

• A. Run-on sentence
• B. Sentence fragment
• C. Dependent clause
• D. Phrase

Answer: (B)

A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence that lacks a subject or a predicate. A complete sentence needs both a subject (who or what the sentence is about) and a predicate (the verb and its complete thought). When one of these is missing, the group of words can’t express a full idea, which is exactly what the statement describes. For example, “Running to the store” misses a subject, and “The tall man” misses a verb. These are fragments because they don’t present a complete thought.

A run-on sentence happens when two independent thoughts are joined without proper punctuation or a conjunction, so that’s a different issue. A dependent clause has a subject and a verb but can’t stand alone as a complete sentence, so it’s not by itself a complete sentence either. A phrase lacks a full subject–verb structure and isn’t a complete sentence. The term that best captures the scenario of a missing subject or missing verb is sentence fragment.