The Classification of Words

§ 418. We find no predication in the second sentence of the following dialogue.

• 
  How is the little chap feeling?
  
• 
  Very sorry for himself. (Galsworthy).
  

But this is not a sentence of the Rain type, with a zero predication. Here we know the subject, it is the chap-oi the first sentence. And we know the structural predicate is. So the person who asked the question perceived the answer as if it had the predication fully expressed: The little chap is very sorry for himself.
Traditionally sentences like very sorry for himself, with some part (or parts) left out are called incomplete or ellipti­cal. But as a matter of fact they are quite complete in their proper places in speech. They would become incomplete only if isolated from the sentences with which they are combined in speech, i. e. when regarded as language units with only paradigmatic relations, without syntagmatic ones. ²
When a speaker combines a sentence with a previous sen­tence in speech, he often leaves out some redundant parts
¹ Speaking of the 'definite restrictions on order' found in sequences
lojiger than sentences, H. Gleason writes: "For example, John came.
He went away, might imply that John did both. But He came. John
went away, certainly could not have that meaning." (Op. cit., p. 57.)
² J. Hughes writes: "Meaningless expressions like I'm sorry, he
isn't. Yes, completely, become quite easy to classify if we may count as
part of the immediate utterance anything in the utterance just made by
the previous speaker. — Is Mr B. in> I'm sorry, he isn't (in). — Was
the factory destroyed by the fire? Yes, (it was) completely (destroyed by
the fire)." (The Science of Language. N. Y., 1962;.
248
that are clear from the foregoing sentence, otherwise speech would be cumbersome. A sentence is thus often reduced to one word only.

• 
  Where are you going, old man? — Jericho. (Galsworthy).
  
• 
  What have you got there, daddiest? — Dynamite. (Shaw).
  

Theoretically, one and the same sentence may be represented differently in speech, depending on the sentence it is combined with. Suppose, we take the sentence John returned from Mos­cow yesterday. If this sentence is to be the answer to Who returned from Moscow yesterday? it may be reduced to John. As an answer to When did John return from Moscow? it may be reduced to Yesterday. In answer to Where did John return yesterday from? it may take the form of Moscow. Thus, John. Yesterday. Moscow, may be regarded as positionally condi­tioned speech variants of a regular two-member sentence. In this they differ from one-member sentences (§ 406).
The sentence on which such a speech variant depends may be called the head-sentence of which it is an adjunct.