I Maintain This Is Not A Sentence.

[Tdol]

Most people will agree that it is not a sentence as it doesn't meet the standard requirements as there is no main verb. However, the context it came from is also important. If you reply to a 'how many' question simply with a number, it lacks both a subject and a verb, but it is still a fully functioning response. Terms like sentence fragment or minor sentence that are used show that an incomplete sentence can do the same as a complete one and that within the context the missing parts of the sentence can be reconstructed.

It is possible to say that it is not a sentence because certain forms are missing, but if it was used in a context where the other speaker, say, had supplied them, then the missing forms are floating around in the semantic ether and shouldn't be disregarded completely.

[wordsmith]

Wow! This is excellent! Now I see how this works, and in the future will allow sufficient time for the authorities amongst us to get back to me with the valuable information. Your assistance is greatly appreciated!

[wordsmith]

Thanks, Charlie, for the excellent and useful response. I am assisting a colleague with a technical paper, and, as this is the final sentence of the entire paper, I thought it might be more convincing if the paper ended with an actual sentence. I just wanted to be sure. Thanks again!

John Wordsmith

[BobK]

Thanks. I do not agree that is a sentence. Basically a sentence must include at least one verb with regard to a tense

In other words, a finite verb. Of course, in speech there is room for much abbreviation: 'Who's there?'/'[It is] Me'. But in the case of something that presumably has the ambition of being part of a formal agreement, 'being' doesn't cut it. The expression quoted in the OP is just an expression.

b

[Charlie Bernstein]

It looks like an absolute nominative participial construction cut off from the main part of the sentence. They have their own doer different from the sentence subject and an incomplete predicate.

That's why I love this place!

=O]

[BobK]

How authoritative is Wikipedia? If this isn't good enough for you, follow some of the links at the bottom. But the first two sentences are all you need: Finite verb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

b

[konungursvia]

It is not a sentence, as a gerundive is used but no verb. However, it is generally permissible to use it as a sentence, within the context of several other related sentences.

[Charlie Bernstein]

It is not a sentence, as a gerundive is used but no verb. However, it is generally permissible to use it as a sentence, within the context of several other related sentences.

Bob's point. Well taken. Generally, the more of the text we can see, the better we can answer this kind of question.

[Tdol]

as this is the final sentence of the entire paper, I thought it might be more convincing if the paper ended with an actual sentence.

It might well.

[heidita]

Most people will agree that it is not a sentence as it doesn't meet the standard requirements as there is no main verb........
but if it was used in a context where the other speaker, say, had supplied them, then the missing forms are floating around in the semantic ether and shouldn't be disregarded completely.

I am assisting a colleague with a technical paper, and, as this is the final sentence of the entire paper, I thought it might be more convincing if the paper ended with an actual sentence.

Hi John, we all agree on the fact that this is tecnically not a sentence. In my teaching Spanish people, this is a hard task as we do not use subjects in Spanish (sic), very hard for Spaniards to learn that a sentence always needs a subject!

However, in the given context and even being a non-native, the (non) sentence makes perfect sense to me and seems very adequate for a final conclusion. When I read it I had no doubt at all what it meant and thought it was perfectly suitable.