(In)Complete Sentences
By Angela Arlia

Our columnist describes the horrors that ensue when verbs go missing.

love to eavesdrop. I admit it. And I do so wholeheartedly. It’s one of the best ways to hear the most egregious mistakes of grammar committed. (Reading signs while on long walks is another way, but that is neither here nor there.)  Luckily for you, dear reader, I hear these things often, providing ample fodder for this column.

On a recent bus trip, I overheard one such travesty. As we were arriving at the destination, a person sitting next to me said to someone on his cell phone “We almost there.”
It’s awfully nice that he was considerate enough to telephone a friend or relative to let them know of his arrival. However, it was awfully annoying to have to listen to this horrible mistake. It’s possible I might have missed the most essential part of this sentence but I really doubt that.

The great thing about the English language is that you can pretty much have a sentence with one word. For instance, there are many great sentences that issue commands like “Run!” or “Stop!”  In these sentences, the subject (the person doing the activity or action) is understood to be the pronoun “you.” So you have an understood subject and a verb in this exclamatory sentence. The most important part of these commands is, that’s right, the verb.

Verbs are one of the seven parts of speech. A verb tells the reader or the listener what the subject does or is. It is pretty darn important because without verbs, we are just nouns. (A noun, as you’ll recall from second grade, is a person, place, or thing.)  Some nouns are great but don’t you want to do something, be something, or even say something? Without the verb, you have no action, no being. What’s the point of living without verbs? (I really don’t know but I’m sure I’ll get some feedback on that one.)

Evil grammar boy on the bus should have said “We are almost there” or even, “We’re almost there.” But no! That beautiful verb was missing! (This is why I nearly threw up when I heard this mistake committed.)

Please, everyone: make an effort to use verbs on a daily basis. Think of it as being as important to your well-being as getting your five servings of fruits and vegetables.