This chapter discusses how constituents come to be dropped in abbreviated registers of English. It begins (Module 7.1) by examining Subject Drop in colloquial English sentences like ‘<I> can’t find it’, discussing whether they involve Truncation of the periphery above SUBJP. Module 7.2 then goes on to look at Auxiliary+Subject Drop in sentences like ‘<Are you> doing anything tonight?’ and considers whether this results from Weak Syllable Drop in the phonology. Next Module 7.3 considers Article Drop in newspaper headlines, and whether this results from syntactic Truncation, or Article Drop. Module 7.4 goes on to look at omission of Be in newspaper headlines (and its correlation with Article Drop), asking if this involves Truncation, or a tense/agreement deficit. Subsequently Module 7.5 examines Object Drop in product labels (like ‘Don’t stir <it>’), arguing against Topic Drop and in favour of pro-drop. The chapter concludes with a summary (Module 7.6), Bibliography (Module 7.7), and Workbook (Module 7.8), with some Workbook exercise examples designed for self-study, and others for assignments/seminar discussion.

Chapter 6 applies the relevance-based account of referring expressions to the phenomenon of null subjects in non-pro-drop languages. So-called diary-style nulls, it is argued, are ultimately driven by the interaction of effects and effort and therefore by the speaker’s aim of achieving optimal relevance. Three broad categories of null subject use in English are identified: an informal null subject where the omission leads to extra cognitive effects, a pressurized null subject where the speaker’s abilities are the crucial factor, and finally, an ostensively vague null subject, which is driven by the speaker’s preferences. These three categories are not presented as an exhaustive taxonomy of English null subjects, or as theoretically distinct. Rather they emerge as a result of a speaker aiming at optimal relevance in different discourse contexts, and they represent occasions where different elements in the overall equation of optimal relevance drive lexical omissions.