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I have the following sentence:

File (is) larger than allowed.

Is the verb "to be" required here?

Is it correct English to use "File larger than allowed."?

Mr Me
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    If you remove the verb, it is no longer a sentence. It may be something else, however, like a label or an answer or a headline. – tchrist Dec 03 '14 at 12:03
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    It is an example of telegraphic speech more commonly known as headlinese – Mitch Dec 03 '14 at 12:47
  • It's not a grammatical sentence in the first place. There should be a determiner before File. There is no English grammar for computer popups. You're on your own. – John Lawler Dec 03 '14 at 18:01
  • @John: Well, maybe "File" is a proper noun. Baby names have gotten rather strange lately ;). – Kevin Dec 03 '14 at 20:24

1 Answers1

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Although not exactly a sentence, we often get this kind of telegraphic answer from computers. Look at these examples:

  • "suitcase heavier than allowed" - from automatic scale at the airport
  • "file larger than allowed" - from a data traveler
  • "daily limit exceeded" - from an automatic teller machine
Centaurus
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