Can we use a to-infinitive directly after the subject? [closed]

verbs grammaticality grammar infinitives
  • Hong Kong to ban flights from India, Bangladesh.

Is the above sentence grammatically correct? OR does it require a verb:

  • Hong Kong is to ban flights from India, Bangladesh.

So, basically ... which sentence is grammatically correct?


Solution 1:

Hong Kong to ban flights from India, Bangladesh.

It's a compressed (possibly by the headline writer) newspaper headline. It is to be understood as "Hong Kong is/intends to ban flights from India and Bangladesh".

Marginally ungrammatical. Yet we understood it instantly. What this teaches us is that ungrammaticality is gradient, and humans are amazingly tolerant of slight departures from full grammaticality.

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