Complete Sentences, Please!

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Complete Sentences, Please!

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1dihiba
Jul 24, 2007, 10:12 am

List book titles that are complete sentences. Harder than it looks! (by the traditional definition, a sentence needs a subject and a verb - verbs are often absent in book titles)

River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke
Shake Hands With the Devil by Romeo Dallaire
Can You Hear the Nightbird Sing? by Anita Rau Badami
All My Patients are Under the Bed by Louis J. Camuti
Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy

2John5918
Jul 24, 2007, 10:57 am

My library includes:

The Universe Is a Green Dragon by Brian Swimme
He Kills Coppers by Jake Arnott
But God is not defeated by Samuel E Kayanga
The Crucified Jesus Is No Stranger by Sebastian Moore
Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore
Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
Sir Apolo Kagwa Discovers Britain by Ham Mukasa
Small is Beautiful by E F Schumacher
The Sun Will Be Rising by Akol Meyan Kuol
Sweet Dreams Are Made of This by Margaret Burt
Where is my home? by various
Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Then I'm not sure whether the following can be considered complete sentences or just clauses, despite having subjects and verbs:

When life was rusted through by Owen Letcher
When the Lights Go Out by Tanith Lee
When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs
When There Was Steam by Tony Barfield
Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner

But you're right, dihiba, that complete sentences are rare - this is less than 2% of the titles in my library.

3His_Kid
Jul 24, 2007, 11:26 am

Of course, there are lots of books that become complete when you include subtitles, but using only actual titles, I have:
Bitter is the New Black
Josh McDowell Answers Five Tough Questions
He Still Moves Stones
Do I Look Fat in This?
Stick A Geranium In Your Hat And Be Happy!
Know what you believe also,
Know Why You Believe
He Chose the Nails
It Had to be a Monday
Discover Balboa Park
Your Money Counts
Let Me Call You Sweetheart
Don't waste your life
Love Your God with All Your Mind
Grace Rules
Lord, I Believe
Keep in Step With the Spirit
Dare to Discipline (although mine is the new version)
Snap Out of It
Never Be Lied To Again (not actually in my library, but on my library wishlist)
Who Knew?
If There's a God, Why Are There Atheists?
How Should We Then Live?

Upon review, it seems that most of my "full sentence" titles are Christian and/or apologetics books. Interesting.

BTW, this represents about 6% of my collection.

4hazelk
Jul 24, 2007, 11:38 am

Is this a duplication of the currently active List Five Books Parlour Game - Complete Sentences?

5mamajoan
Jul 24, 2007, 1:21 pm

Correct me if I'm wrong, johnthefireman, but "Women who run with the wolves" is not a complete sentence.

6John5918
Jul 24, 2007, 3:32 pm

#5, mamajoan, I think you're right - it's got a subject and verb but isn't a complete sentence. Thanks - I think I was getting tired by the time I reached "w" in my catalogue!

9MikeBriggs
Jul 25, 2007, 12:01 pm

Just going down the TagMash for "Baseball, Mystery":

Strike three you're dead
The girl who loved Tom Gordon (fragment)
Follow the Sharks (fragment)
Take Me Out to the Ballgame

11frithuswith
Feb 8, 2008, 7:07 am

infosleuth, that is fantastic!

We Need to Talk About Kevin
Let the Wind Speak
Carry Me Down
Forget Kathmandu
It's not about the Bike
Everything is Illuminated
Things Fall Apart

Hmm, that lot were all on the first page of my library! So on that evidence it's about 7% :-)

12Madcow299
Edited: Feb 8, 2008, 7:47 am

13TLCrawford
Feb 8, 2008, 8:09 am

This one popped into my head but I bow to any English teachers to decide if I am correct or not in it being a sentince.

Earth Abides

15frithuswith
Feb 8, 2008, 8:43 am

Oh dear, I am procrastinating today. As a result, I have discovered the following:

Carter Beats the Devil
Why do buses come in threes?
Is God really in control?
Oranges are not the only fruit
Blame the sky
My name is Red
Uh... Hey... Mom and Dad, I'm dropping out of college
Why do we say that?
One flew over the cuckoo's nest
Looking up the aisle
Mister God, This is Anna
Bring in the Spring
Does W trouble you?

Plus We didn't mean to go to sea sprung into my mind. So, the upshot of that is that I'm going to get into the lab later than I was already (oooooops) and my percentage is actually more like 2.5%. I have obviously been buying books recently which have sentencey titles... I blame LibraryThing.

18vpfluke
Feb 8, 2008, 12:58 pm

Horsewatching: Why does a horse whinny and everything else you wanted to know by Desmond Morris

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: understanding philosophy through jokes by Thomas Cathcart

Were Adam and Eve Episcopalians: Answers to this and other perplexing questions which may be bothering you by Norman Shadley. I'm the only one in LT with this book -- mostly very funny cartoons from a "Canon" at the Detroit Cathedral.

Are you being served?: the inside story of Britain's funniest--and public television's favorite--comedy series. by Adrian Rigelsford.

Screwtape Proposes a Toast the sequel usually published with "The Screwtape Letters." by CS Lewis

20inkdrinker
Feb 8, 2008, 1:56 pm

I don't think I saw any mention of

Something wicked this way comes by Ray Bradbury.

21jimroberts
Feb 8, 2008, 2:07 pm

Over at Language Log, Prof. Pullum has been looking at a sort of opposite question, books whose titles are not even syntactic constituents: More books with non-constituent titles.

23ijustgetbored
Feb 8, 2008, 3:47 pm

Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe
Come Be My Light, Mother Teresa
You Can't Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe
Kiss My Tiara
Go Down, Moses, William Faulkner
As Hot as It Was, You Ought to Thank Me, Nanci Kincaid
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie (it's all in how you read that one)
They Call Me Naughty Lola, collection of ads from London Review of Books personals
Sweet Dove Died, Barbara Pym
Eat a Bowl of Tea. Louis Chu
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
Anything Goes, Jill Churchill
Tell No One, Harlan Coben
This Was Burlesque, Ann Corio
Run River, Joan Didion
Play It as It Lays, Joan Didion
Tender Is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
French Women Don't Get Fat
The Dog Dialed 911 (The Smoking Gun)
Hannibal Rising, Thomas Harris

24oh2read
Feb 9, 2008, 10:36 am

I was just reading this at work (shame on me) and one comes to mind.
Where the Wild Things Areby Maurice Sendak.
Classic kids' literature.

25KymberK
Feb 9, 2008, 11:15 am

26rocketjk
Edited: Feb 22, 2008, 6:35 pm

27RoboSchro
Edited: Feb 23, 2008, 11:06 am

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Don't Read This Book If You're Stupid by Tibor Fischer
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
Fierce Invalids Come From Hot Climates by Tom Robbins
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
How Much For Just the Planet? by John M. Ford
I Was a Rat! by Philip Pullman
In the Beginning Was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson
Lady Slings the Booze by Spider Robinson
The Law Is For All by Aleister Crowley
Nirvana Bites by Debi Alper
Passion Is a Fashion by Pat Gilbert
Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams
Things Snowball by Rich Hall
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
Tragically I Was an Only Twin by Peter Cook
We Can Build You by Philip K. Dick
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick
What Do You Think of the 21st Century So Far? by David Austin

Oh, and almost everything by Ashleigh Brilliant.