User:Cherisec

A nominal or tenseless sentence consists of two different types:

(1) a sentence with a copular auxiliary and a predicative expression
For example: “Mary is a student” which includes the copula "to be" and the predicate "a student"
Or

(2) a sentence without a finite verb.
For example: “Ladies and gentlemen, my dear brother, Tom” where the verb "to be" is missing, as opposed to “Ladies and gentlemen, this is my dear brother, Tom”.

The following entry will expand on definition (2), specifically what allows them to omit finite verbs yet still be grammatical, to the point where a whole discourse can exist of just nominal sentences. The following are examples of nominal sentences in both English and Arabic. Note that these are not the only languages that incorporate nominal sentences; they can be found in other languages as well, such as Egyptian, Russian, and Hebrew.

Nominal sentences in English

Most of us are taught that a sentence consists of a subject and predicate. The subject is what is doing something or being described, and the predicate is everything else, which is at the very least a verb. However, many everyday sentences don’t contain a verb. These verbless sentences are commonly referred to as nominal or tenseless sentences, while the occurrence is called nonverbal predication. English is a great host of nonverbal predication, particularly in expressions, small talk, and responses to questions. It is so common that an entire discourse may consist solely of nominal sentences. Being familiar with such constructions, what they are and how to use them, can greatly aid your natural speech. Below is an example of a discourse which only uses sentences without verbs. Note the context and flow of the utterances. If you would say something differently (which is most likely), note that as well and see if your replacement requires a verb.

Example

Knock-knock-knock!

Guest 1: A knock at this hour?

Host: Now now, the more the merrier, no? Just a moment. Tom! Well, better late than never, brother. Chop-chop! Out of the cold and into the warmth of my abode. Ladies and gentlemen, my dear brother, Tom: second to none and a jack of all trades!

Guests: Hear hear!

Guest 2: So, a jack of all trades. Very intriguing.

Tom: Well, not so much a Jack of all trades, really. More just a master of none.

Guest 2: Humility? How endearing.

Tom: Thanks.

Waiter: Hors d’oeuvre?

Tom: No, just some water, please.

Waiter: How about a bit on a plate; for later maybe?

Tom: Sure.

Guest 3: Tom, nice hat, quite becoming. Chic, but tempered…Gucci perhaps?

Tom: Not even close: Kleinhans, before bankruptcy in the 90s.

Guest 3: My goodness, impressive. Second to none indeed.

Tom: Naturally.

Nominal sentences in Arabic

The Arabic grammar formally consists of two word orders unlike English. English typically allows SVO whereas Arabic allows both SVO and VSO. This means that in Arabic Language, every SVO sentence can be reversed to the other order without necessarily changing the meaning. At times, it can be a matter of style or a personal choice, and at times one style might be more favourable depending on what the speaker/writer wants to draw attention to. Sometimes Arabic speakers focus on what is being done, and that results in moving the verb to the head of the sentence, while when the focus is on who is doing what rather than what is being done, they might start with the subject because it could be more important to them. However, when the sentence in Arabic starts with a subject, the sentence can take a number of particles that could actually add a meaning to what is being said or written. Arabic particles might translate into adverbs in English like "certainly". These particles appear only in nominal sentences with or without a verb, but they never precede a verbal sentence. Therefore, it is not always the case but it might be that verb initial sentences convey a sense of intuitive and motion hence it is typical to start with a verb, whereas the same sentence, with the verb between the subject and the object, might indicate frequency i.e an action that happens frequently. Wafa Al-Ali (talk) 00:39, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Verbless sentences, which are only one type of Arabic nominal sentences, do not consist of a subject, but a topic and after the topic comes a predicate. When there is no verb present in the sentence, both the topic and the predicate take a nominative case. The following examples display verbless sentences with NP, AdjP or PP predicates.

Example

Standard Arabic Verbless Sentences:

• NP predicate: The man teacher.
  

• AdjP predicate: The man sick.
  

• PP predicate: The man in the school.

In all the sentences above, the copula verb "to be" is missing because it is in present tense. The verb "to be" is not used because there is no action going on whereas in the sentences below there is an action and the verb is required:

al-mudaris-u yashrh-u ad-dars-a

The teacher explains the lesson.

The action of "explaining" which is a verb, has to be present in order to fulfil the meaning of what is happening. However, in order to explain the predicate that the teacher "is" a teacher, Arabic simply does not need to link nominal arguments through the use of a linking verb.

Verbless sentences in Arabic are in the present tense. Thus, an Arabic nominal sentence can never express something in the past, as the past tense has to always be indicated morphologically to convey accurate information of (+past), unlike the present which can be referred to as tenseless.

Example

1. al-rajul-u muddaris-un

The man teacher

The man is a teacher.

This example is perfectly grammatical in Arabic. It is referring to a present situation and therefore doesn't require a verb. The order in Arabic for this sentence surfaces as Subject-Verb order but as mentioned earlier "the man" here is not a subject, but rather a topic. Since we also claim the present status of this sentence, there is no verb.

Arabic is also Case sensitive meaning; there are certain marks used to indicate the function of a word in a sentence, and that is why some hyphenated suffixes are being used in the Arabic sentences represented in English, but that happens only when Arabic sentences are represented in another language. Moreover, while the definite article "the" is a free morpheme in English, its equivalent in Arabic is a bound one. To represent this bound morpheme, hyphens are also being used in order to illustrate that morphologically to non-Arabic speakers. .

The following is an example of a past tense sentence.

2. kaan-a al-rajul-u muddaris-an

was the man teacher

The man was a teacher.

This sentence has Verb-Subject-Object order which can be applied through movement as the past tense verb has to be moved to the beginning of the sentence for the sentence must be verb initial in this case. However, as the English equivalent shows, the word "teacher" is not undergoing nor receiving any action so it can't be an object.

3. al-ab-u yashtari at-taam-a

The father buys the food.

This sentence shows SVO order, but with movement it is also possible to have an VSO order.

yashtari al-abb-u at-taam-a

Buy the father the food. Wafa Al-Ali (talk) 07:18, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Nominal sentences in other languages

• Russian:
  

dom malen’kij
house small
“The house is small.”

otec rabotaet
father works
“Father is working.”

• Ancient Egyptian:
  

qsn pw itnw
intolerable thing COP. rebellion
“Rebellion is intolerable.”

e ou-kairos an pe pai
or an-opportunity(m) not COP.(m) this(m)
“Or is this not an opportunity?”

p-na ge pe ti-gom nouoein
the-grace moreover COP. that-power as-light
“Grace, moreover, is that luminous power (which emerged from the First Mystery).”

• Hebrew:
  

הסוס יפה
(The) horse beautiful
“The horse is beautiful.”