Non-sentential: meaning

[pchams]

I was asked by a friend who is learning english to explain the above phrase. Searching google brings up some fairly deep papers on linguistics beyond my scope of learning.
Are there any english teachers here who can give a simplistic description of the meaning of "non-sentential"?

I think it has something to do with elliptical phrases and sentence fragments in context with prior dialogue.
Or possibly, it's just what the word looks like, "not a complete sentence", or not conforming to accepted sentence structure.

Help.

[DallasDad]

I've never heard the phrase used outside of formal logic or linguistics. In ordinary conversation, it would mean not of, or not pertaining to, a sentence.

[pchams]

Thanks for the response.
As I thought, it's not something I remember seeing in basic grammar.

[Nihilianth]

I think what it means, in literature, you can get away with having a sentence not be a "proper" sentence. Like in an autobiography, for instance, if you were writing in an informal manner, you can explain a detail in your life, and have one sentence at the end of a paragraph, or after a phrase that just simply says: "Ya know?" (only without the quotes, as no character would actually be saying those words.) In other words, I think it is a tool you can utilize without using formal sentence structures, in order to convey an informal writing style.

I wish I could think of an example of this. I may think of one later, if you are in need of one.

I think the best example I can think of is, when you are watching a movie that has a narrative going on with the scenes acting it out. Within the real life script for that narrative, usually it is written in an informal manner, because someone is supposed to be speaking those words in ordinary spoken language. Ordinary spoken language is very informal, compared to what written language is "supposed" to be.

I did think of an example, as a matter of fat. In the movie V for Vendetta, while the lead female character, Evey Hammond, is in "prison," she finds a note written by someone named "Valerie." This is a part of the movie in which Valerie had written a short autobiography on a piece of toilet paper. Within the narrative, she states:

I shall die here. Every last inch of me shall perish. Every inch but one. An inch.

The words "An inch" would be non-sentential, since it is not a formal sentence, and would be considered "wrong" by strict English rules. If you were to write a sentence like that in most English classes, the teach would pull out her red pen.

[pchams]

Thanks.
That's what I garnered from the papers I perused.
Elliptical. :D

[drkitten]

Thanks.
That's what I garnered from the papers I perused.
Elliptical. :D

Not.... quite. There's not thing "elided" from the phrase "an inch" (as in the example above), so there's no ellipsis. It's simply a bare noun phrase.

A lot of interjections can be non-sentential; if I drop a hammer on my foot, and shout "Jesus!", where's the verb?

Similarly, a lot of proverbs and cliches are non-sentential. "The more, the merrier." "Righty tighty, lefty loosy."

[Nihilianth]

Not.... quite. There's not thing "elided" from the phrase "an inch" (as in the example above), so there's no ellipsis. It's simply a bare noun phrase.

A lot of interjections can be non-sentential; if I drop a hammer on my foot, and shout "Jesus!", where's the verb?

Similarly, a lot of proverbs and cliches are non-sentential. "The more, the merrier." "Righty tighty, lefty loosy."

Gotcha.

(Non-sentential. lol.)

[Almo]

Not.... quite. There's not thing "elided" from the phrase "an inch" (as in the example above), so there's no ellipsis. It's simply a bare noun phrase.

A lot of interjections can be non-sentential; if I drop a hammer on my foot, and shout "Jesus!", where's the verb?

Similarly, a lot of proverbs and cliches are non-sentential. "The more, the merrier." "Righty tighty, lefty loosy."

Is this to be drkitten's final post on the forum? I hope not.

[calebprime]

Seconded.

[OldBloke]

Gotcha.

(Non-sentential. lol.)

'Gotcha" isn't non-sentential as it's a mispronunciation of "I have got you" or "I have got your meaning".
(via "I got yer")

[Jeff Corey]

Yes.

[Dave Rogers]

Yes.

Great example. Lots of Jon Anderson's lyrics are non-sentential.

Dave