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Michael Swan in his book http://ielts-house.net/Ebook/Vocabulary/Practical%20English%20usage.pdf (page 1) writes:


Titles, labels, headings, notices and slogans usually consist of short phrases, not complete sentences. Articles are often left out, especially in the names of buildings and instituations.

ROYAL HOTEL

SUPER CINEMA

INFORMATION OFFICE

BUS STOP

POLICE OUT

MORE MONEY FOR NURSES


The question is which of this is what and what all of this would look like if it were written in a full way? As I can see

ROYAL HOTEL -signboard/possibly a label

SUPER CINEMA - signboard/possibly a label

INFORMATION OFFICE - signboard/possibly a label

BUS STOP - signboard/possibly a label

POLICE OUT - unknown.../possible a notice

MORE MONEY FOR NURSES - slogan

On the other hand, if something of this is published in a newspaper, it will become a title or a headline. So, I guess all of it can be anything of the list...

Now the full forms. The author doesn't mention any verbs or other words except for the articles that can be left out. So, the matter is in the articles and in a full way all of this should look like

THE ROYAL HOTEL

THE SUPER CINEMA

THE INFORMATION OFFICE

THE BUS STOP

THE POLICE OUT

MORE MONEY FOR THE NURSES

Right?

1 Answer 1

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Royal Hotel and Super Cinema are names of buildings, which obviously would have a sign on the front. We would say "Frozen is on at the Super Cinema."

Information Office could be described as an institution; a place provided by an organisation for the public to go. "I'll go and ask at the Information Office.

Bus Stop is obviously on a sign marking the place.

I was puzzled by Police out until I looked at your link and found that both the last two have exclamation marks, indicating that they are both meant to be slogans. "[There should be] or [We want] more money for [the] nurses!"

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  • 1) So, Royal Hotel and Super Cinema = names of buildings. Information Office = institution. Bus Stop = sign. As I understand if they are used somewhere in a text they can have articles but if they are used like sign which we can see in front of ourselves they have the "no article for titles, headlines, signs..." rule. Right? 2) By the way, you are right! I didn't notice the exclamation mark! Wow! Do I have to undertsand the police example like "[The] police [is] out!"? Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 10:44
  • 3) As I can see we have only institutions, buildings and slogans here. Doesn't author give us any titles, headlines, labels, notices as examples? Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 10:45
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    A slogan is usually a demand for something - I suppose [We want] the police out [of here]! A book title may contain an article but isn't a complete sentence - The history of England. Headline - Trump elected President. Label - Exercise book. Notice - School Rules. Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 11:12
  • A) I think there may be three variants of "POLICE OUT" 1) Police: "Keep out"! - a phrase from the police for people to keep out 2) Police is out. - saying that police is out 3) Police, keep out! - advising the police to keep out Can all of them be possible? B) May the "The history of England" book title may also be without the article? The Trump sentence is like "Trump [has been] elected [as a] President"? I was told "Bus Stop, Royal Hotel, Super Cinema etc". were labels too.So, everything seems to be a label...? Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 18:06
  • If "School rules" is a notice then I don't understand what "notice" means... Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 18:06

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