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Companies to be brought into public ownership.
Introduce a shorter working week within a decade.
Billions to upgrade every home to be energy efficient. Skilled and experienced sports therapist, who about cares about more than just your money.

How would these examples be categorized in English? Not quite sentences nor phrases. The first is newspaper style without the connective verb (are) but the others differ.

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  • They look like 'headlines', 'manifesto pledges' and 'personals ads'
    – Smock
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 14:33
  • They're really just words (presented as phrases, sentence fragments). The first one would usually appear as a newspaper headline with the relevant verb omitted to save space (Companies [are] to be brought into public ownership [by a Labour government, if elected]). But in another context, it might be a noun phrase, like the other two examples (Companies to be brought into public ownership include British Telecom and Royal Mail) - where we could include a "relativizing" verb (Companies which are to be brought into public ownership...), but it's not required.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 14:49
  • The second sentence is complete; it's an imperative and the you as subject is assumed. (In other words, it's like a command.)
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Nov 24, 2019 at 6:24

1 Answer 1

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As you point out, the first example follows a similar structure to a newspaper headline. These usually omit auxiliaries, pronouns, articles, and conjunctions, to make a punchy sentence that can be quickly read and understood. However, I think it actually goes with the 2nd and 3rd examples as bullet-points lifted from a political manifesto.

When bullet points are used, the idea is that each bullet point can be linked back to a leading statement, for example:

We promise to:

  • Bring companies back into public ownership.
  • introduce a shorter working week within a decade
  • invest billions to upgrade every home to be energy efficient.

You will notice that I have reworded your first 3 examples slightly to make them form coherent sentences with the leading "we promise to...". The fact is that many bullet-pointed lists dispense with that format for the same reason that newspaper headlines are not always grammatical - the author wants them to be punchy.

The last example reads like an advertisement, like the kind found in newspaper classified sections, and again these follow a similar structure to make key points stand out. Traditionally, classified advertisements in newspapers allowed for 2 or 3 words to be emboldened as a header, so you would want to use important words first, even it means dispensing with grammar.

Example:

I AM A
skilled sports therapist
who about cares about more than just your money

Vs

SKILLED SPORTS THERAPIST
who about cares about more than just your money

Someone looking for a sports therapist will hopefully spot the second advertisement at a glance, whereas the first one might escape their notice.

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