Verbless clause or Noun phrase

Question

This movie trailer of the movie X-Men starts with this narration of Professor X:
(1) So many battles waged over the years.
(2) And yet none of them like this.

Also, at 1:40, Magneto says:
(3) All those years wasted fighting each other, Charles.

I think that (2) is not a noun phrase but a verbless clause. That is, (2) does not mean
(2') And yet none of them that is like this.
but it means
(2'') And yet none of them is like this.
Am I right?

But I'm not sure whether (1) and (3) are a noun phrase or a verbless clause. If they are a noun phrase, they mean:
(1') So many battles that have been waged over the years.

(3') All those years that were wasted fighting each other, Charles.

If on the other hand they are a verbless clause, they mean:
(1'') So many battles have been waged over the years.

(3'') All those years were wasted fighting each other, Charles.

So, I guess my question is (A) whether my judgment about (2) is right and (B) what native speakers think about (1) and (3). To better understand the context, I think it's a good idea to watch at least those corresponding portions of the trailer.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

listenever(1) So many battles waged over the years.

It is a non-finite clause in which "So many battles" is a subject "waged" a predicator, "over the years" an adverbial. That non-finite clause is passive in meaning.

listenever(2) And yet none of them like this.

Here, there is an omission of the verb "is" in the comparative clause "none of them like this is".

listenever(3) All those years wasted fighting each other, Charles.

There are two non-finite clauses here; the first is an en-clause, i.e. "All those years wasted", where "All those years" is a subject and "wasted" a predicator, the second is an ing-clause in which "fighting" is predicator and "each other" an object.

Verbless clause or Noun phrase

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions