relative to

[Silverobama]

Hi,

The value of a country's exports relative to that of its imports.

Do I need to rewrite the sentence like this:

The value of a country's exports is relative to that of its imports.

[J&K Tutoring]

The value of a country's exports relative to that of its imports.

Do I need to rewrite the sentence like this:

The value of a country's exports is relative to that of its imports.

Short answer: yes.
The first sentence is a fragment. It could be part of a longer sentence with more meaning than your second sentence: The value of a country's exports relative to that of its imports is known as a Trade Balance.

[Silverobama]

So the sentence is in itself correct, right? If I am writing the sentence like that I need to add an "is" but in this case it is understandable because the author omited a part?

Thanks a lot

[Barb_D]

I"m not sure the second conveys the idea you want to convey.

The first, as J&K has said, is not a sentence. It's a noun phrase. Your sentence is correct grammatically, but it's not saying anything. Everything can be relative to anything.

As another example, let's say I had a fragment that said "The dog running." You could say "The dog is running" but what did you want to say about the running dog? The dog running through the yard just saved my life? The dog running to greet me is the best dog in the world?

Someone must have wanted to say something about the two trade values, but what?

[shannico]

Is it a caption to a paragraph? If so, I would phrase it as follows:
The value of a country's exports in relation to that of its imports.
Alternatively I would stick to the fragment suggestion that J&K made.

[Silverobama]

I"m not sure the second conveys the idea you want to convey.

The first, as J&K has said, is not a sentence. It's a noun phrase. Your sentence is correct grammatically, but it's not saying anything. Everything can be relative to anything.

As another example, let's say I had a fragment that said "The dog running." You could say "The dog is running" but what did you want to say about the running dog? The dog running through the yard just saved my life? The dog running to greet me is the best dog in the world?

Someone must have wanted to say something about the two trade values, but what?

This is the link. Please see whether the fragment makes sense now.

[Barb_D]

Oh! You didn't say it was part of a definition. It SHOULD be a fragment. It's a big old noun phrase.Do not insert the "is" in there.

[5jj]

PLEASE give the full context in future, Silverobama. You are wasting people's time if you don't.

[Silverobama]

Sorry!

Please call me Silver!!

[5jj]

Hi yo, Silver! The Lone Ranger Opening Theme Song - YouTube