English Translation
There were bits of broken glass on the floor.
Bits of broken glass, “Stücke” which is what the translation says not shards.?
“Scherben” are the result of something hard shattering.
With Glas you almost always use “Scherben”, and the “broken” part is implied. So the translation is a bit redundant. You could just as well say “Auf dem Boden lagen Glasscherben.” and it’s clear that it’s because something broke.
So yes, “Stücke von zerbrochenem Glas” is valid german, just not as idiomatic and a bit more literal and verbose.
I don’t know why english shies away from using “shards” and prefers a circumlocution.
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Whether I use “schards” or “bits of glass” would depend on my intended audience e.g. if I was warning a youg boy I would say "Watch out for the bits of glass! rather than “Watch out for the shards!”
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