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Is 'No' a complete sentence?

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mouser:
It's a bit of a tough call, but i guess i'd put myself in the camp of "it can be considered a sentence", mostly on the basis of the first commentor's argument on that page, that a standalone "No." can be viewed as implying "It is not so."  While it doesn't make much sense out of context, the same could be said for many sentences.

KenR:
Well, if we are getting out our dictionaries, here's what Webster has to say about it:

Gram. a grammatical unit of one or more words, bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it, often preceded and followed in speech by pauses, having one of a small number of characteristic intonation patterns, and typically expressing an independent statement, question, request, command, etc., as Summer is here. or Who is it? or Stop!
--- End quote ---

I would paricularly point out the intial part (one or more words) and the very  last example of a sentence they use "Stop!" which seems fairly consonant with "No!" to me.

Ken

mouser:
yes, they do seem similar in spirit, though of course the argument that would be made against this reasoning is that "stop!" is a verb, and so can form a proper sentence, wheras "no" is not a verb.

KenR:
Actually, no can be a transitive verb as well as an intransitive verb.

mouser:
This thread is the perfect place to post about one of my favorite language books of all time:

Fowler's Modern English Usage Dictionary (make sure you get 2nd edition not 3rd!)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0192813897

read some oft the comments on amazon for a flavor of why this is such a beloved book:
For me two things stand out in this much admired Second Edition: (1) the absolute delight one finds in the many pronouncements on language; and (2) the odd but satisfying mix of the old-fashioned prescriptive grammarian commingled with someone who disdains pedantry for its own sake, and condemns what is seen as unnecessarily purist. Perhaps more than anything what one loves about this book is Fowler's incisive dry wit.
--- End quote ---

again, make sure you order the 2nd edition! (H. W. Fowler, Ernest Gowers (Editor))

anyone else have favorite language websites/books?

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