In a previous archive, I demonstrated how sentences can go on for as long as you want, but today, I want to find out just how short they can get.
Sentences are hard to define. They carry meaning (typically), contain words (I’m pretty sure), require punctuation (probably), etc. Rather than worrying about a universal definition of sentences, I’ll focus on one definition that is useful for our exploration. Specifically, I am defining sentences as a phrase or phrases, with at least one independent clause.
I am requiring independent clauses because they constitute what most people imagine when they think of a “complete thought”. For example, “he walked,” an independent clause, is a complete thought, while “bananas” is not. Independent clauses typically consist of a noun phrase and a verb phrase. In Chomsky’s famous sentence, “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously,” “colorless green ideas” is the noun phrase, and “sleep furiously” is the verb phrase. Entirely meaningless, yet structurally sound.
Obviously, a sentence with one phrase will be shorter than a sentence with more phrases, so I’ll stick to a single independent clause. The clause needs a noun phrase and a verb phrase, and we can get both of those down to a single word each. With just a noun and a verb, we can construct the sentence, “Giraffes abdicate.”
Personally, I don’t know any giraffes that have abdicated, but a sentence is a sentence. As far as the word count goes, two is quite short, but the sentence requires a lot of characters. When written out, it is physically long. I can’t do much to get rid of the period, but I can find shorter words. There are no one-letter verbs, but there is a one-letter noun, which gave me an even shorter sentence: “I do.”
I do. This short sentence brings tears to listeners’ eyes. It marks important moments. It speaks volumes, yet it doesn’t require volumes to speak. Saying so much with so little is inspiring.
For a while, I believed this to be a sufficiently short sentence, but I recently remembered something about English. It is possible to have one-word sentences, but only in the command form. In the command form of English, you drop the subject of the sentence. This is common in recipe books, in instructions like “Mix until thoroughly combined.” The word “mix” starts the verb phrase, but there is no preceding noun. Without the condition at the end, you could have a complete sentence in just one word, “Mix.”
The command form is special because it compels you to take action. Each instruction is a little shove, something to make you start moving. Commands can have any sentiment, but they don’t exist simply to convey information. They carry expectations. They want you to initiate. I have compiled three contenders for the shortest English sentences, and the weight they carry extends far beyond their few characters.
Go. Do. Be.