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The sentence below often appears in a "blank" page of books.

"This Page Intentionally Left Blank"

Why there's no linking verb after the subject (Page)? e.g.:

This Page Was Intentionally Left Blank


If the adverb in the original sentence is removed, we only have:

This Page Left Blank

So I wonder why the original sentence without a linking verb often appears in books. Is it not odd without a linking verb? Based on my understanding of the original sentence, it means that the page left itself blank, which is odd for me.

Hope to get some clarifications about this.

Mari-Lou A
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user1764381
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  • Related.https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/108061/omitting-to-be-in-present-continuous – V.V. Nov 10 '17 at 13:07

1 Answers1

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You're right that this is not a complete sentence.

It is using a different grammar, one that is often used for titles (of books, papers, reports) and official notices. It is similar to Headlinese (in grammar, though not so much in vocabulary).

The first characteristic mentioned for Headlinese in the Wikipedia article I linked is "Forms of the verb "to be" and articles (a, an, the) are usually omitted."

Colin Fine
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    I'm not sure it counts as "headlinese", but a structurally similar situation arises in For sale: Jigsaw puzzle. Only one piece missing. – FumbleFingers Nov 10 '17 at 16:25