Getting Rid of Fragment Warnings

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 1, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


As Christine is writing, Word often flags portions of her sentences with a "fragment consider revising" warning. These drive her nuts and she wonders how she can get rid of the warnings.

Some people like the suggestions made by the grammar checker; others hate them. The fact is, though, you don't need to turn the grammar checker off completely. You can configure the grammar checker so it only checks some things. Here's how to adjust the grammar checker so you don't see those annoying "fragment warnings."

  1. Click Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the Spelling & Grammar tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Spelling & Grammar tab of the Options dialog box.

  4. Click on the Settings button. Word displays the Grammar Settings dialog box. (See Figure 2.)
  5. Figure 2. The Grammar Settings dialog box.

  6. Look through the list of settings until you find the Fragments and Run-ons setting. (It is near the top of the settings list.) Clear its check box.
  7. Scroll down and look for the Fragment – Stylistic Suggestions setting and clear its check box, as well.
  8. Click OK twice to close both dialog boxes.

That should do it; you shouldn't see any more "fragment warnings" as you are writing your prose.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5665) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Updating an Entire TOC from a Macro

The TOC (Table of Contents) is generated by a field. This field may be updated in a macro using a single command line.

Discover More

Understanding DATE Field Formatting

One of the most commonly used fields is the DATE field. You can specify how the DATE field displays the current date by ...

Discover More

Sorting within a Chart

When creating a chart based on data in a worksheet, you may want to sort the information in the chart without rearranging ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Checking for Incorrect Numbers in Text

One of the grammar rules you can check for in a document is the incorrect use of numbers. If you are unsure when to use ...

Discover More

Only Showing Readability Statistics

Perform a grammar check, and Word displays some statistics that represent an analysis of your words. By writing a macro ...

Discover More

Spell Checking when Closing Documents

When you close a document, you might want to do one final check of the spelling, just to make sure that you didn't miss ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is one less than 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.