| zero copula |
| Definition:
The omission of the simple copula (e.g., to be) in sentences.
Note: The phenomenon is rare in English. Other languages, such as Chinese and Sanskrit, can omit or don't have the equivalent of to be, especially in the present tense. In these languages either (1) a noun and an adjective or (2) two nouns can form a complete sentence. |
| Example:
Though speakers of Standard English rarely use the zero copula, some examples of it are:
(1) Statements like The higher, the better (2) Casual questions like You like the coffee here? (3) Newspaper headlines where short words and articles are omitted to conserve space: e.g., Nixon Not Guilty |