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In many textbooks, polite style speech is taught, which means です and ます
endings are introduced, and used in many sentences.

However, I have encountered sentences with omissions, for example sentences
which omit verbs. They may also end with particles. I think this is done to
introduce vagueness, or simply to make the sentences shorter.

In what context do such omissions constitute not polite speech anymore, but
**plain speech**? For example, in the drama [Meguri Ai, Episode
8](https://youtu.be/mNOOEfpjuUM), there are some "incomplete sentences" that
have differing levels of politeness _(I have some context and sentences
written here, but if more background is desired, the specific video segments
are listed below - please visit<https://youtu.be/mNOOEfpjuUM>)_:

Video time: 02:35 - 03:30:

> 社員： **おつり、いいから。** (plain)
>
> A boss (社長, name 修二) is in the back of a taxi with his subordinate (社員), and
> the subordinate says this to the driver. Although polite forms were used
> with the driver up until that sentence, I feel that this sentence is in
> plain form as the subordinate feels superior to the driver due to a
> perceived difference in social status.

Video time: 11:25 - 11:45:

> 修二： **じゃあ、早稲田まで。** (polite)  
>  絵里（運転手）：この時間だと電車で行くほうが早いとおもいますけど。。。(polite)  
>  修二：いいんです。行ってください。 (polite)
>
> Apparently this sentence is still polite, according to my teacher. I am not
> sure why, though.

Video time: 12:53 - 13:10:

> 修二：そういうわけにはいかないんです。 (polite)  
>  絵里（運転手）： **どうして** ？ (plain)  
>  修二：そいつにだけは、幸せになってほしい **から** 。そうおもって２年前に別れた **から** 。(plain)

Eri (絵里) asks どうして, which apparently is in plain style, and Shuuji (修二)
replies in plain form with two occurrences of から without です.

There are many sources that state that [ending with から is
informal](http://yesjapan.com/YJ6/question/1190/would-you-say-kara-desu-or-
desu-kara). However, まで is another particle, yet ending with まで without です
(second bolded sentence) seems to leave the polite style speech unaffected.
Again, どうして without です seems to be informal.

* * *

**When does omission make sentences casual / plain?** Examples would be
greatly appreciated.
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politeness copula formality
When does omission of です constitute casual speech?
In the French language, when I meet someone, I decide whether I am going to
use the polite form or familiar form. I usually stick to one. I don't go
switching back and forth between them.

In Japanese, people often switch back and forth all the time. This is very
tough to learn, but there is no logical way to really learn it other than just
to get a lot of experience with the language. It's not just a simple matter of
polite or familiar forms. I would say that each way of using polite or
informal speech has it's own feeling of a level of politeness or familiarity,
and what is used may depend on the feeling that the speaker had at the time.

If you want to be strictly polite, always use "desu" and "masu". As with most
languages, the risk you take is to come off as too stiff and alienate people
with whom you could have been more familiar. It's when you have human
relationships that fit into a certain gray area between formal and familiar
where you see the most mixing of different levels of politeness/familiarity.
Examples are the employee who is quite friendly with the boss and the sushi
chef who is friendly with the customer.

"Masu" for some reason is more stiff and formal sounding than "desu". I use
"desu" (usually softened with a "ne") with people who I just met who are
around my age, but never "masu". I only use "masu" when speaking to staff of a
store or people older than me whom I don't know.

"Karadesu" sounds very stiff and formal for some reason. "Desukara" doesn't
sound any more stiff than using "desu" in general.

These omissions are not to introduce vagueness. I do think that the way
Japanese is generally used is slightly more vague than how English is usually
used, but don't listen to a lot of the beginners who harp on about Japanese
being too vague because they actually just don't understand it.

Also, in the specific example of "じゃあ、早稲田まで," I don't know why, and maybe
someone else can explain it, but adding "desu" would sound weird there.

When you said "I feel that this sentence is in plain form as the subordinate
feels superior to the driver due to a perceived difference in social status,"
I think you're overthinking that.

As I imagine you have read, leaving out the masu and desu and using the
familiar forms of verbs is, well, the familiar way. Do this with your friends.
On occasion there are friends who use "desu" with me, but usually not. You
might see two Japanese friends using "desu" together almost all the time. I
don't pretend to understand it. I've never seen two friends using "masu"
together.
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I think じゃあ、早稲田まで isn't polite but plain. じゃあ、早稲田まで行ってください and じゃあ、早稲田までお願いします
would be polite.

Sentences without です, ます aren't polite, so the sentences that end with
particles like 早稲田まで, ほしいから, and 別れたから aren't polite. And どうして？ isn't polite
either because it's without です, ます.

I think omission of です, ます always makes sentences casual / plain.
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It's because the terminal form of a sentence is shown.

おつり、いいから is a ~~complete~~ sentence and nothing is omitted after it. (Even if
there is something, it's another sentence.) So you can tell it's plain.

じゃあ、早稲田まで and ~~どうして~~ lack the verbs and uncertain if they are plain or
polite.

In the case of そいつにだけは、幸せになってほしいから。そうおもって２年前に別れたから, it is a noun phrase hiding
the verb in the main clause だ or です i.e. "(it's) because ..." and you
technically can't tell which it is. But it more often than not sounds omission
from …から だ as is often the case with it, though there's a room to interpret it
otherwise.
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To throw a few things out there. I think textbooks do the です/ます more for verb
recognition and conjugation flags than a specific emphasis on speaking polite
(big blanket statement) and the concept of です/ます being polite and not using it
being impolite is not a paradigm. 80% of your daily interactions in Japan are
in standard Japanese (だ/る) so its of the utmost importance to internalize
those patterns IMHO. To address your direct questions - Ending a sentences in
particle or dropped verb - Normal and important. without that you would have
to say a fully formed sentence. Consider this in daily life in English.
aさん"When is the meeting?" bさん "at 2." here you are unlikely to reply with a
full and proper "The meeting is at 2 o'clock" Japanese has the same liberties
to shorten the sentence up.

  * When to use です/ます and when not? It can take some time to learn to sense it but use it when 

1- don't yet know the persons social status

2- if you are in service of the person(s). (where, the person just being older
constitutes them as sharing their life experience with you, thus in their
service)

  * When not... ask yourself, would you be that persons friend? if yes, drop the です/ます
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All the above answers seem accurate and helpful. But because none offer a
definitive "black and white" rule, I think you can see that it often depends
on the situation, the people involved, and the interpersonal dynamic.

In the first example "いいから" the speaker could have said "いいです", especially if
the speaker was a woman. Or for both women and men, simply "おつり、いい". I put
this in the category of standard scripted phrases that everyone uses naturally
to avoid unnecessary conversational overhead.

For example, say you go down to Akihabara and ask one of the guys in those
little parts shops if they have 10-ohm resistors. Even though you're a
customer, they may just respond by saying "ない" to let you know they don't have
any in stock. Crisp, clear, no fuss. Go to a department store in Ginza and
look for a certain brand or model of a handbag or something, and the clerk
would probably say "ございません". Depends on the situation.

"早稲田まで" fits that pattern too. Minimal verbiage to communicate the required
information to initiate the transaction. "早稲田までおねがいします" would be fine too.
And, "早稲田までです" wouldn't be strange either.

By the time you get to the 3rd example: "どうして" and "、、、から” I think the 2
people, by virtue of having been sharing personal space together for a bit,
are now falling into a more natural level of conversational exchange. Just
reading it, I imagine that the driver is older than the passenger, so is
adopting a somewhat fatherly tone. However, the passenger is still the
customer (higher status) so the customer doesn't need to speak formally even
though the driver is an older person.

In sum... teaching です、ます in Japanese language classes is the right thing to
do, because it's always OK to be polite. However, being able to switch
appropriately and knowing when it's OK to do so, is probably something that
only comes with time in Japan in a variety of social situations.

Good luck!
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