Editing Zero copula (section)

==In English==
{{See also|Nominal sentence}}
[[Standard English]] exhibits a few limited forms of the zero copula. One is found in comparative correlatives like "the bigger, the better" and "[[wikt:the more the merrier|the more the merrier]]". However, no known natural language lacks this structure, and it is not clear how a comparative is joined with its correlate in this kind of copula.<ref>"Grammar Deconstructed: Constructions and the Curious Case of the Comparative Correlative" http://hdl.handle.net/1903/14114</ref> Zero copula also appears in casual questions and statements like "you from out of town?" and "enough already!" where the verb (and more) may be omitted due to [[syncope (phonology)|syncope]]. It can also be found, in a slightly different and more regular form, in the [[headline#Headlinese|headlines]] of English [[newspaper]]s, where short words and [[article (grammar)|articles]] are generally omitted to conserve space. For example, a headline would more likely say "Parliament at a standstill" than "Parliament ''is'' at a standstill". Because headlines are generally simple, in "A is B" statements, an explicit copula is rarely necessary.

Zero copulae are very common in sports announcing. For example: "Johnson already with two hits today." "Unitas with a lot of time."

The zero copula is far more common in some varieties of Caribbean creoles and [[African American Vernacular English]],<ref>{{cite web |url= http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/Zero-Copula.htm |title= zero copula |author= Nordquist, Richard (Grammar & Composition Expert) |publisher= About.com (an IAC company) |quote= Definition: The absence of an explicit auxiliary verb (usually a form of the verb be) in certain constructions where it is customarily found in standard English. Also called copula deletion. In their book Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English (Wiley, 2000), John R. Rickford and Russell J. Rickford note that the zero copula is one of the most "distinctive and identity-affirming" characteristics of [[African American Vernacular English|African-American Vernacular English (AAVE)]]. |access-date= May 17, 2015}}</ref> where phrases like "Where you at?" and "Who she?" can occur.<ref>"be." ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition''. (see [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/be Dictionary.com's definition] under the "Our Living Language" note.)</ref> As in Russian and Arabic, where the copula can only be omitted in the present tense, the copula can only be omitted in African American Vernacular English when it can be [[Contraction_(grammar)|contracted]] in Standard [[American English]].