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Some sentences such as 'What about a cup of tea?; What a beautiful girl!; Why not give it another try' are considered as examples of verbless main clauses. So when I want to write them fully, what are they? And the same question with nominal verbless clause in sentence' A friend in need is a friend indeed'
One more question: when we consider two these sentences' We have 30 men who are working from 6a.m to 11p.m.' and' He wanted the public not to approach the men, who are armed and dangerous.' The signal which is used to distinguish if relative clause is restrictive is 'the' in the second sentence, isn't it?

Doctor D · Accepted Answer

These shorthand, no-verb sentences can be expanded or reworded in a number of ways. For example:

What about a cup of tea? Would you like a cup of tea?
What a beautiful girl! What a beautiful girl she is!

However there already is a verb in the third example.
Why not give it another try?

The proverb (A friend in need is a friend indeed) can be expanded thus:
A friend who helps when you are in need is a friend indeed.

As to the restrictive vs nonrestrictive: "the" does not help, it is not a signal of this. Restrictive phrases are definitional, they are essential to the meaning of the word/words being modified. Non-restrictive phrases are extra, they can be left out if need be.

The same wording can be used for either restrictive or non-restrictive (only the comma tells you that is is non-essential). This shows that there are no "signals" for this usage. For example:
I ran after the dogs which had escaped from my backyard. Restrictive. (I ran after only those dogs which had escaped. Some dogs stayed in the backyard).
I ran after the dogs, which had escaped from my backyard. Non-restrictive (I ran after all the dogs. All of them had been in my backyard earlier.)

Clear?

Huong Ho · Answer

Thank you so much, Doctor D! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

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