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An uncommon question that I've come across from Agatha Christie's Nemesis reads,

"Sleep well?"

In my opinion, I feel that as the action is in the past, it should have been

"Slept well?"

However, is it possible that the former is grammatically correct, as the sentence is basically

"Did you sleep well?"

but with the "Did you" omitted?

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  • 1
    You are correct
    – Otomatonium
    Commented Jun 13, 2018 at 23:22
  • 'sleep well'? 'No, you just woke me up.'
    – SF.
    Commented Jun 14, 2018 at 13:22

1 Answer 1

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I agree that this is a shortening of "Did you sleep well?" Questions can sometimes be asked by just using intonation and context?

Coffee? (meaning would you like some coffee?)

Hard day? (did you have a hard day?)

Obviously, out of context these could be misunderstood. For example the first could be taken to mean "Could you make me some coffee?" but usually the unspoken context removes ambiguity.

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