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In some languages we can remove the subject (and sometimes a verb too) from a sentence. In Toy Story 3, the kid says "Coming!" instead of "I am coming!" to her mother.

My questions are:

1) Can I say "Coming!" instead of "I am coming!" in English?

2) If I can, when can I remove the subject and verb?

3) And would this be considered standard English?

(NOTE: The OP's question involves the topic "Ellipsis of subject pronoun + auxiliary", which is topic that often comes up on grammar forums and linguistics sites. This thread is no longer a duplicate since the other thread no longer exists. And please don't again mark the OP's question as already answered since the thread that had the supposed answer didn't actually have the answer to the OP's question. -- F.E.)

F.E.
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Dante
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  • Yes, you can say "Coming!" instead of "I am coming!", and it is standard English. I'll go and write up an answer, which might take up 20 minutes or so. :) – F.E. Mar 29 '14 at 03:14
  • They closed this one too! UNBELIEVABLE! If you'll try again, with a 3rd thread, I'll quickly post an answer and update it as I go along. – F.E. Mar 29 '14 at 03:38
  • Why? It is not justly! I deleted my previous Post. – Dante Mar 29 '14 at 03:38
  • Yes. I agree with you. I'll keep an eye out for your 3rd thread. – F.E. Mar 29 '14 at 03:39
  • I can not repost this question! – Dante Mar 29 '14 at 03:46
  • Try a slightly different title? . . . – F.E. Mar 29 '14 at 03:47
  • If nothing works soon, then I'll post the answer onto one of your other threads. (And later, take this problem up with moderators or whoever.) This is too ridiculous. – F.E. Mar 29 '14 at 03:49
  • There's no way! – Dante Mar 29 '14 at 03:53
  • Then I'll post the answer into one of your other threads. And you'll probably want to send a message to the moderators about tonight's problem. Remember to include links in your message. – F.E. Mar 29 '14 at 03:56
  • I've post an answer: http://english.stackexchange.com/a/160493/57102 – F.E. Mar 29 '14 at 04:04
  • @F.E. Please do not ask users to repost questions to make an end run around the closure procedures! Post in meta or chat for attention if you feel a post has been closed incorrectly. Doing it this way makes more work for everyone and could get the OP suspended. – Bradd Szonye Mar 29 '14 at 07:03
  • The reason the OP could not repost this again is because the system is not supposed to let you post exact duplicates. – Bradd Szonye Mar 29 '14 at 07:06
  • @BraddSzonye I notice that this thread still hasn't been reopened. If it had been reopened, then I would probably have moved the answer over into this thread. (Aside: I can't chat because the system won't let me log in to chat for some unknown reason; and so, I've stopped trying.) – F.E. Mar 29 '14 at 07:38
  • user-96402, could you please undelete the original copy of this question so that people with voting privileges can try to get this sorted out for you? Two of us have already voted to undelete it but it'll go faster if you do it yourself. – Bradd Szonye Mar 29 '14 at 18:24
  • user-96402, in the future, if one of your questions is put on hold, please do not repost it. Instead, edit the question to address any concerns raised about it. Often that will be enough to get it re-opened within a day or two. If not, you can also post on [meta] to bring attention to it. You can also post there if you have questions about why a post was put on hold. Good luck! – Bradd Szonye Mar 29 '14 at 21:13

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