Everyday Grammar TV: Wishing You a Happy Thanksgiving!

John: Hi, Dr. Jill! You know, Thanksgiving is coming soon.
Dr. J: I know! It’s my favorite holiday. I love to see my family.
John: I enjoy seeing my family also, but they often have disagreements....
Dr. J: We should talk a little bit about the expression “Happy Thanksgiving.” Americans say it a lot this time of year.
John: Our expression consists of two words: happy and Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a noun.
Dr. J: And “happy” is an adjective. It describes the noun.
John: Note that the expression only has an adjective and a noun. What is missing?
Dr. J: We generally introduce nouns with articles – short words such as a, an, or the. Our article, adjective, and noun make a noun phrase.
John: In our case, we might use the article “a”.
Dr. J: So, we have the noun phrase “a happy Thanksgiving.” But we need more elements to form a complete sentence.
John: A reminder: complete sentences have a subject and a predicate. A predicate generally consists of a verb, a verb and object and so on. When you say “Happy Thanksgiving,” you are suggesting a subject and part of a predicate. In other words, you are suggesting something like this:
I wish you a happy Thanksgiving.
Or
I hope that you have a happy Thanksgiving.
Dr. J: The reason we say “Happy Thanksgiving” is because the remainder of the sentence is understood between the speaker and the listener.
John: The next time you hear the expression “Happy Thanksgiving,” we hope that you will think back to this lesson.
Dr. J: Happy Thanksgiving, John. I hope there are no disagreements this year!
John: Happy Thanksgiving, Dr. Jill.
Dr. J: And that’s Everyday Grammar TV.
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