493 Sentences are often incomplete; any part that is clearly implied may be left unexpressed.
- a. In many sentences the subject is not expressed, because easily understood, or indefinite, or contained in the verb:
Φᾱσί they say. καὶ εἶχεν οὕτως and so it was. AN. III. 1, 31. μάχης δεῖ there's need of a fight. AN. II. 3, 5.
Here belong impersonal verbs: δεῖ there is need, χρή oportet, προσήκει it behooves, μέλει it is a care, etc.
- b. The verb is often omitted, especially ἐστι, εἰσι and other common verbs that are suggested by the context:
Σπονδαὶ μὲν μένουσιν, ἀπιοῦσι δὲ ἢ προϊοῦσι πόλεμος a truce if we stay, if we leave or advance, war. AN. II. 1, 23. μή μοι μῦρίους ξένους no ten thousand mercenaries, please. D. 4, 19.
- c. Sometimes an adverb or adverbial phrase stands for a whole sentence, as in the common answers ναί yes, μάλιστα certainly, οὔ no, οὐ δῆτα of course not, no indeed, πάνυ μὲν οὖν assuredly, νὴ Δία yes, by Zeus, μὰ τοὺς θεούς by heaven, no, καλῶς very well, εὖ γε bravo!
These and the like may be called abbreviated sentences.
- d. Sometimes it is not clear, nor of any importance, whether an expression is incomplete through omission, or belongs under
[490](file:///x:/Departments/Classics_Texts/schoolgrammarofa00goodrich_porson/HTML%20Files/Chapter-490.html), as a more primitive form:
Oἰκτρ μὲν νόστοις αὐδ piteous the cry at the return! S. E. 193. So also the examples under [b](file:///x:/Departments/Classics_Texts/schoolgrammarofa00goodrich_porson/HTML%20Files/Chapter-493.html)b.