>>>It is a construct, but a lol inserted in a middle of a sentence surely isn't one, simply because it's not a sentence, it's an insertion, and IIRC it's "laughING out loud". Probably comes from all the IRC /me syntax.
>>>
>>>Speaking of sentences, is "you get a life" a short or a long sentence?
>>
>>Umm... Hard for me to say, because judging by the time stamp on this message I don't appear to HAVE a life.
>
>Let me rephrase, which sentence is longer:
>
>"You get a life"
>
>or
>
>"You get twenty years to life"

Ahh, I finally get it (even a blind chicken finds a kernel of corn every once in a while.) I would have to say that the answer depends on the context, so either answer I give could be considered right or wrong. So, I'm not going there <g>, but a nice play with words, though.

As far as lol is concerned, I would still argue that it is commonly used as an abbreviated sentence, because people often respond to a funny post with something like "lol." In which case it remains an imperative sentence without a subject. It would be different if people would generally write "I am lol", which can be expanded to "I am laughing out loud."

But I have to admit that I am quickly getting out of my depth here, since I am not a linguist and English is not my native language. After learning the horrendous sentence deconstruction rules of the Finnish language I had nothing left for the English grammar (or Swedish or German, for that matter) that my teachers tried to pour into my already swollen brain.

Pertti