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There is some discussion about "体言止め{たいげんどめ}" on the internet, but it is all
in Japanese. My Japanese ability is too low to be able to read it, so I need
some help.

At the least, "体言止め" refers to ending a sentence with a サ変名詞{へんめいし} and
omitting the "をする". "体言止め" is more than just this, but I'm not sure what.

"体言止め" translates to "ending a sentence with a noun or a noun phrase." But, I
hope a little more context could be provided.
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2014-02-17T23:48:17.307
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2014-02-18T00:27:21.080
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question
words
what exactly is "体言止{たいげんど}め"?
The term 体言止め refers to ending a sentence with a 体言. So, what's a 体言?

In Japanese school grammar, a 体言{たいげん} is a type of word which has the
following traits:

  1. It is an independent word. (It does not depend on another word, like 助詞 or 助動詞 do.)
  2. It does not inflect. (In other words, it has only one form.)
  3. It can be the subject of a sentence.

At a minimum, this includes at least 名詞{めいし} (nouns) and 代名詞{だいめいし}
(pronouns), though some definitions include other word classes as well. For
example, 明鏡 says that some theories include 形容動詞の語幹 (what many learners call
な-adjectives, but without the な), apparently ignoring the third requirement.
Most commonly people use 体言 to refer to nouns, though.

In any case, 体言止め is a fairly simple concept--ending a sentence with a 体言.
That means:

  * Your example of omitting をする is 体言止め because the word before をする is a 体言.
  * Omitting だ or である (etc.) at the end of a sentence can be 体言止め for the same reason. 
  * You can also form 体言止め by inverting the normal word order: 「星が輝く」 → 「輝く星」

And so on. Dictionaries say that it was originally mainly a stylistic poetic
device, appearing in 和歌 and 俳句 and so forth, but it's certainly not limited to
poetry. You'll also see it in advertisements, in magazine articles, in the
news, in documentaries, and all over, really. It can be used for effect, or it
can simply be used to make your writing more compact.

If you do end a sentence with a 体言, make sure that whatever words you're
omitting can be inferred from context.
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2014-02-18T11:35:36.903
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2014-02-18T23:28:02.527
2014-02-18T23:28:02.527
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answer