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Ex.

Anyone going to the store?

Often times in writing words get omitted in questions, such as the one above. Does that still make them "independent clauses" or must the sentence be able to stand as if it were written like a statement?

Luke
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1 Answers1

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Yes, this stands alone as a clause. The meaning is clear, with the implied subject being the audience, and the implied verb being is, making the complete sentence equivalent to:

[Gang], [is] anyone going to the store?

This particular example is somewhat colloquial, so would probably only be used in oral communication, or perhaps as dialog in a play, script or novel.

Pieter Geerkens
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  • @Luke: You are welcome; but the thanks is redundant, once you have up-voted and/or accepted the answer. However, newcomers are often advised to not accept immediately, so as to encourage other respondents who might contribute an even better answer. – Pieter Geerkens Aug 23 '13 at 03:21
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    Another example of *Conversational Deletion*. – John Lawler Aug 23 '13 at 03:58
  • And I'm wondering whether you mean 'How acceptable is a string such as "Anyone going to the store?" in (1) a scientific journal (2) an A-level essay (3) a GCSE essay (4) a family conversation. What such a string might be called in that case would probably be unhelpful: "Hi!", "No", "On the table", "Having trouble?", "John Smith", "John!", "Thank you", "Happy Birthday"... are not 'independent clauses' but are probably used more commonly than any true sentences. And will continue to be. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 23 '13 at 07:46