Forming valid one word sentences


I remember my English teacher saying that there are only two valid ways to make a one-word sentence:




  • A question:



    Why? Where?





  • A command:



    Go! Stop!





Is this correct?



Answer



Interrogatives (who?), imperatives (stop), declaratives (me), locatives (here), and nominatives (Jane) all allow for single-word statements, as do adjectives, adverbs and so on. You'd be hard-pressed to find a category of words that are not amenable to the possibility.


In general, in almost all things pertaining to our language, you will discover that everything your English teacher taught you is wrong. See Theodore Bernstein's Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins for extended commentary on this point.


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