Short Sentences in Books, Movies, and Speech

 

Ernest Hemingway was a famous American writer. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

One of his most famous books, The Sun Also Rises, ends with the following words:

"Yes," I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

Today, we are going to consider the grammar behind the sentence: "Isn't it pretty to think so." In this program, we will study how English speakers use shortened² sentences. We will hear examples of other short sentences from films, books, and fictional³ conversations.

But first, we will start with some definitions.

Shortened clauses⁵

Clauses are groups of words that have a subject and a predicate.

A predicate is a group of words that tells something about the subject.

When a clause⁴ has a period at the end of it, it is a sentence. For example, in the sentence, "I love English grammar," the word "I" is the subject, and "love English grammar" is the predicate.

Sometimes, sentences have many clauses. These clauses can begin with the word "that" or a word beginning with the letters “wh-”, such as why, what, where, or when.

For example, in the sentence "We hope that you enjoy learning English grammar," the words "that you enjoy learning English grammar" are a clause. The clause begins with the word "that" – it is an example of a that-clause.

When speaking, Americans often shorten¹ clauses that repeat what they have said earlier. In addition, they often shorten clauses that repeat what someone else has said.

These short expressions usually occur after certain verbs.

We will now explore these verbs and a few shortened clauses they often go with.

#1 Know, remember, wonder

Speakers often shorten “wh-” clauses, usually after they use the verbs wonder, know, or remember.

When speakers shorten the “wh-” clauses, they usually only use the “wh-” word itself. They leave out the rest of the clause.

Here is an example. Imagine two friends talking about a third person who apparently⁶ went missing the night before.

Tom didn't come to the show last night!

I wonder why?

In the example, the second speaker used a shortened clause. Instead of saying "I wonder why Tom didn't come to the show last night?", the speaker said, "I wonder why?"

This is an example of a shortened “wh-” clause after the verb "wonder." The speaker did not want to repeat all of the information discussed earlier. Such lengthy⁷ speech would create very long and slow conversations!

Now, let’s consider a second example. In the 2004 film Crash, actor Sandra Bullock says the following line:

I'm angry all the time, and I don't know why… Carol, I don't know why!

Here, Bullock says "I don't know why" instead of "I don't know why I am angry all the time." She uses a shortened “wh-” clause after the verb "know."

The two examples we gave you both had the word "why" in them: "I wonder why?" and "I don't know why?"

These are two very common uses of a shortened “wh-” clause.

Please remember that English speakers will also use other “wh-” words in shortened clauses. You might hear a person say "…he doesn't remember where," for example.

#2 Guess, say, think, hope

Now let's turn to a second group of clauses. They are called “that-clauses”.

Speakers often shorten “that-clauses”, usually after they use verbs such as guess, say, think, and hope.

The word "so" often takes the place of the “that-clause”. This sounds difficult, but we will give you examples to clarify the point!

Here is one from the 1991 film The Man in the Moon.

- "Maureen? Is it always gonna hurt this bad? Mama says it won't. I hope she's right."

- "I hope so."

Here, the second speaker says "I hope so" instead of the full sentence, "I hope that she is right."

In other words, "so" takes the place of an entire that-clause.

Now, let’s consider a second example. Remember the lines you heard at the beginning of this report?

"Yes," I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

Just before those lines come in Ernest Hemingway's book, two characters, Jake and Brett, are talking about their unfulfilled love for each other. Brett says that she and Jake could have had such a good time together.

Jake responds with the famous line:

"Isn't it pretty to think so?"

Jake could have said "Isn't it pretty to think that we could have had such a good time together?"

Such a line would have been much less elegant⁸ than Hemingway's ending!

What can you do?

The next time you are reading a book in English or talking with an English speaker, try listening for examples of shortened clauses. Does the writer or speaker use one of the shortened clauses we talked about today? What verbs does the speaker use with the shortened clause?

Try using examples of shortened clauses that you hear. Or try to use some of the examples we told you about.

If you practice using shortened clauses, we think that you will make progress.

No, we know so.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm John Russell.

Words in the Story

grammar – n. the study of groups of words and their uses in sentences

conversation – n. an informal talk involving two people or a small group of people; the act of talking in an informal way

occur – v. to appear or exist; to be found

gonna – short for "going to"

respond – v. to say something as an answer to a request

character – n. a person in a theatrical⁹ production, book or movie

elegant – adj. simple and clever

practice – v. to do something again and again in order to become better at it

1 shorten   

vt.弄短，缩小，减少

参考例句：

• Minor accidents can shorten the life of a car.小事故会缩短汽车寿命。
• My dress is too long I must shorten it.我的连衣裙太长了，我得把它截短些。

2 shortened   

v.弄短，缩短( shorten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shortened the skirt by an inch. 她把裙子缩短了一英寸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Vacations have lengthened and the work week has shortened. 假期延长，工作周就缩短了。 来自辞典例句

3 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

4 clause   

n.（正式文件或法律文件的）条款，从句，分句

参考例句：

• The sentence consists of a main clause and a subordinate clause.这句中有一个主句和一个从句。
• What clause do you require in the contract?你要求在合同中订上什么条款？

5 clauses   

从句( clause的名词复数 )； （法律文件等的）条款

参考例句：

• Relative pronouns and adverbs introduce attributive clauses. 关系代词和关系副词引导定语从句。
• Please underline the noun clauses in the passage. 请用线画出短文中的名词性从句。

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

8 elegant   

adj.优美的，文雅的，简练的，简结的

参考例句：

• She was an elegant and accomplished woman.她是位优雅的才女。
• She has a life of elegant ease.她过着风雅悠闲的生活。

9 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。