Is this a complete sentence?

[Hyacinth]

Sentence:

 

Here's what they said.

 

Is that a complete sentence? I'm leaning toward yes because said could be the verb and they could be the subject. Recast it could be "They said what is here." Yes? No? Thanks.

[zoobie]

I'm not sure here is a pronoun in that sentence. It seems like it's an adverb and needs the colon and the information after it? I haven't finished my coffee though.

[regentrude]

I vote complete sentence.

 

It has a subject: "what they said" and a verb: "is". It just has a non-standard order of words. If you rearrange (What they said) (is) (here) it becomes more clear what is what.

 

Not a very good one, because it begs an extension what it was... but it is complete.

 

ETA: It is not grammatically equivalent to the sentence "(They)(said)(what is here)"

Edited March 2, 2016 by regentrude

[SKL]

Yes, but I don't agree with your why.  I see "what they said" as the subject, and "is" as the linking verb.  My grammar is very rusty so I'm not really sure what the term is for "here."  I remember studying predicate nouns / predicate adjectives, so this must be the adverb version of that.  Whatever it would be in the sentence "I am here."

[kroe1]

Yes.

[Jenny in Florida]

In the curriculum I teach to high schoolers, we explain that "here" and "there" are not subjects. A sentence that begins with one of those words is "inverted," meaning that the subject follows the verb. 

 

So, as regentrude and SKL said, the subject of that sentence is "what they said," and the verb is "is," meaning it is a complete sentence.

[Haiku]

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Edited March 2, 2016 by TaraTheLiberator

[Hyacinth]

Thanks everyone!