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Can there be a subject in a sentence without a verb, e.g. in sentences with an attributive adjective such as the following: "All these poor tragic people", "A sad day" or "What a tragic waste of life". In these sentences, which parts constitute as the subjects?

Sandra
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  • Even without an adjective. In a crowded place: "All those people." – Weather Vane Apr 14 '23 at 09:32
  • There's a question about "What a X!" You could also have a look at this question on degenerate sentences although it doesn't answer this question. Also related are nominal sentences without a copula, which are more common in some (e.g. Semitic) languages but can be found in English occasionally. – Stuart F Apr 14 '23 at 09:58
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    Welcome to EL&U. Good question. There might be one or two special circumstances where you might (arguably) see a subject without a verb. For example: The apples were green and the oranges* yellow.* However, in most cases, if there is no verb there is no clause, and if there is no clause, there is no subject. The term subject refers to a specific part of the structure of a clause. The noun phrases in your examples are not subjects. – Araucaria - Him Apr 14 '23 at 10:00
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    "What a tragic waste of life" is a verbless exclamative clause interpreted as a predicative complement, with "be" and the subject understood: "What a tragic waste of life that is" or ("was/will be" etc.). – BillJ Apr 14 '23 at 11:02
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    Hello, Sandra. A reply to Sorry, Jill – what did you ask me to move, and where to?" might be "The coffee table ... back against the wall." But Jill's reply is arguably better classed using the term 'sentence fragments'. See this Northern Illinois University article. Acceptability of these is governed by register, non-overuse, non-ambiguity (and is subjective). // Araucaria's answer contains a common deletion within a sentence. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 14 '23 at 11:25
  • @EdwinAshworth But in your hypothetical scenario "the coffee table" would correspond to a direct object, not a subject. – Araucaria - Him Apr 14 '23 at 13:54
  • @Araucaria That depends on what I consider to be deleted. And I'd not use unqualified 'subject' or 'DO' outside a universally recognised sentence in any case. 'The coffee table is what needs moving'. Take, if you prefer, "Who has just arrived?" ... "John, in his father's Jag." ('John', retrievable subject of retrievable sentence.) – Edwin Ashworth Apr 14 '23 at 14:30
  • Sentence fragments (or, if they meet the specs, sentence constituents) is a good term. They're not sentences because they can't be reconstructed adequately. Nouns are not enough for talking. – John Lawler Apr 14 '23 at 14:33
  • Are you talking about writing or conversation? If the latter, this is partly a question about conversational deletion. (Also: AAVE allows apparently verbless sentences quite frequently due to the "zero copula.") – alphabet Apr 14 '23 at 16:05
  • @alphabet These sentences are taken from movie and TV subtitles, so I guess they would probably be considered conversation? – Sandra Apr 14 '23 at 16:23
  • @JohnLawler This appears to be in part a question about conversational deletion; as I recall you have a paper about this that you've linked in the past. – alphabet Apr 14 '23 at 16:28
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    There are lots of utterances that aren't complete sentences. – Barmar Apr 14 '23 at 22:42
  • @alphabet - Conversational Deletion only occurs at the start of sentences, and the sentences can be reconstructed by rule. This is not in general true of sentence fragments. – John Lawler Apr 14 '23 at 23:39
  • @JohnLawler OP has confirmed above that these sentences are actually utterances by movie characters. I suspect that "A sad day" is the result of deleting "This is/that was" from "this is/that was a sad day." – alphabet Apr 14 '23 at 23:42
  • Of course they're utterances. They're just not sentences. And suspecting is not knowing. – John Lawler Apr 15 '23 at 00:55

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