Why is this considered a sentence fragment? Please help

A reward and punishment system to help enforce safety equipment use.

The sentence above was kicked back to me as a sentence fragment. I feel it is a sentence. If this is a sentence fragment, can someone please explain why?


My first thought when reading your sentence, was;

"What is?" And the answer should be "X is".

X is a reward and punishment system to help enforce safety equipment use.

A complete sentence has three characteristics:

  1. It begins with a capital letter
  2. The complete sentence must contain at least one main clause.
  3. Each main clause must contain an independent subject and verb and express a complete thought.

Since your sentence doesn't answer the who or what, it lacks the subject. In creative writing you can get away with it, but I'm guessing this isn't the case?