I was searching on the meaning of skirt in Longman dictionary and I found the definition which is: "a piece of outer clothing worn by women and girls", Why did not he say: "a piece of outer clothing is worn by women and girls", Why did they not use an auxiliary verb?
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1It is sometimes called a whiz deletion, "A phenomenon where the relative pronoun and the verb "to be" are removed from certain relative clauses." In this case which is was removed.– Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_Commented Jul 28, 2019 at 16:08
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It is done simply to save space.– MickCommented Jul 28, 2019 at 16:12
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1You only use auxiliary verbs in verb phrases. Definitions of nouns are noun phrases. This is not passive voice. Worn is a reduced participle from a relative clause, which would contain a relative pronoun as well as an auxiliary verb. So the answer is that an auxiliary verb would be ungrammatical without a relative pronoun as well. Whiz-deletion removes both of them at the same time, for the same purpose.– John LawlerCommented Jul 28, 2019 at 17:32
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1 Answer
"a piece of outer clothing worn by women and girls" is not a complete sentence. In a sentence it would be:
A skirt is a piece of outer clothing worn by women and girls
Past participles can be used together with an auxiliary verb to form a sentence or without one and then they act as adjectives.
It's the same as saying:
a piece of outer clothing that is worn by women and girls