Titlemania III: Whole-Sentence Titles
Find the BEST books you can and vote on them here.
Thom
6023 books
305 friends
305 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads
3243 books
861 friends
861 friends
Bibliotheque
114 books
5 friends
5 friends
Nova
1686 books
15 friends
15 friends
Reese
1107 books
120 friends
120 friends
Lobstergirl
4759 books
155 friends
155 friends
Karen
584 books
143 friends
143 friends
Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large)
545 books
367 friends
367 friends
More voters…
Comments Showing 1-32 of 32 (32 new)
date
newest »

message 1:
by
Lobstergirl
(new)
Oct 18, 2009 07:54PM

reply
|
flag
*

I lay crying after I saw AS I LAY DYING on the list.

But "The More You Watch the Less You Know" is a full sentence. Right?

Still, I'll throw in my "two cents -- not plain." I would argue that THE MORE YOU WATCH THE LESS YOU KNOW is a "meaningful" or "allowed" fragment; no one should object to its presence in formal exposition. But I read an unstated "that" before each "you." Read in that way, the group of words contains no independent clause. Perhaps my reading is off.
I didn't object to ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY because I see it as a complete sentence that contains (intentional) grammatical errors.

But "The More You Watch the Less You Know" is a full sentence. Right? "
So is "Catch-um one-fellow, two-fellow spear..."
I can't comment on Melanesian Pidgin. But I would argue that Git em up, Scout is a whole sentence, whereas True, dat is not as it lacks a subject.

I'm not saying ebonic titles shouldn't be on the list, in fact I'm going to add "All God's Chillun Got Wings" if it's not already on there, because it has subject-verb-object.
Does "that is true" mean exactly the same thing as "true?" If so, then we should allow books merely titled "true" on the list.

Let's agree that AS I LAY DYING is definitely NOT a complete sentence--can you remove it ?
Ditto WHY I LIVE AT THE..."
And if you do have a way to remove a group of words that does not meet anyone's definition of a sentence,
then let's strike the "noun-clause team" that I mentioned in an earlier post: WHY MEN DON'T LISTEN. . . .

You know what's fun ? Start at the top of the list and read down so as to try to make narrative out of the sentences !


My thought is that the creme will rise to the top. "True" might be read as a sentence, or as, say, a test answer.

Still, I'll throw in my "two cents -- not plain." I would argue that THE MORE YOU WATCH THE LESS YOU KNOW is a "meaningful" or "allowed" fragment..."
they are both complete sentence. in THE MORE YOU WATCH THE LESS YOU KNOW the main clause is "the less you know."

Still, I'll throw in my "two cents -- not plain." I would argue that THE MORE YOU WATCH THE LESS YOU KNOW is a "meaningful" or "all..."
A trusted grammar text confirms the accuracy of your claim. The . . . the . . . constructions (such as THE MORE YOU WATCH THE LESS YOU KNOW) are indeed sentences.


(I should just say that I went to a high school that made us diagram sentences for six weeks a year. Including from Silas Marner.)

I'm not drunk, but it's been about 100 years (okay, 50) since I last diagrammed a sentence. So I could be cited for DWI (Diagramming While Impaired). The "picture" in my head looks like a straight horizontal line; sitting on it is (You) followed by a vertical line that extends below the horizontal line followed by f**k followed by | followed by yourself. Ah, let's just leave this task to the folks who attempted to diagram some of Sarah Palin's "groups of words."

"True." Also heard: "Testify !" One of the problems working with traditional prescriptive grammar is the notion that one or more words are "understood". That being the case, I should be able to point toward a door with a stern look on my face meaning "Get out!" , The "get" and the "out" both being "understood". Oh, dear.

T,
With "props" and sets, we can use gestures, instead of words, to make ourselves understood. I don't see the problem.

I think it's time for my afternoon nap.
--Best, T.

I think it's time for my afternoon nap.
--Best, T."
Thanks for the clarification. I failed to imagine what you were imagining.
A diagram of a sentence with only "understood" words makes me think of "the sound of one hand clapping."
I think I too need a nap.
Best wishes back to you,
R


Chomsky would make hash of our strict requirements for sentence completeness. The ebonic " 'Been down so long..." is in American understood to mean, "I have been down so long..."

You need to specify what page it is on. No one has the time to scroll through 9 pages of books looking for a single book.
Anyone can add books to this list.