University of Sulaymaniyah

College of languages/ English language department

Advanced syntax
Supervised by Bekhal Latif
Shanaz Nadhim Kadhim

ellipsis
Introduction
Ellipsis is a term used in English grammar to refer to texts or situations that an obligatory
element or a constituent gets elided for various reasons such as avoidance of repetition of words.
There are many tyeps of ellipsis; pseudogapping, gapping, sluicing, comparative deletion,
striping, and noun ellipsis. It is very common and normal to use ellipsis since the omitted
elemnts could be understood from the previous sentences or the context.

Ellipsis
It is “The omission from sentences of obligatory elements capable of being understood in the
context of use is called ellipsis.”, (author, analyzing sentence structure, 96) that is, to delete
words in utterances or texts that are necessary constituents of the sentence. We use ellipsis
unconsciously most of the times as it is normal and common to use in informal conversations
without feeling that you have left out something. When a speaker is uttering a sentence any
element ca be omitted, since the omitted elements could be understood from the context. Even
though ellipsis may be acceptable, it is still grammatically incomplete.

Syntax is more concerned with the grammaticality of sentences rather than acceptability of
utterances. Meaning, syntax studies the form of the sentences with no regard to language in
context:

William gave some bleach.

In the above example of ellipsis, the verb is ditransitive. In a ditransitive verb we need an
indirect object and a direct object. However, even though the sentence contains no direct object,
it is still regarded as a ditransitive sentence. Thus, when creating a tree diagram for the sentence,
we write NP and then E to indicate that the direct was omitted as a result of ellipsis.
VP ellipsis is the most common one that has been studied. Typically, the ellipsis happens when
in a clause where a VP similar to the later one is mentioned under coordination of two clauses. A
special type of VP ellipsis that is called antecedent-contained deletion
Does not use coordination in omitting the elements:

Mark read every book that Sara did [VP].

Another kind of ellipsis that doesn’t omit the whole VP, but the direct object or other verbal
modifiers, is called pseudogapping. usually, this type doesn’t make sense to native speakers. An
example would be the following sentence in which ‘been reading’ is missing, but the DP ’short
stories’ is not ellipted:

Mark has been reading more novels than he has [been reading] short stories.

Another type is called sluicing; it is more the deletion of TP rather than VP; an example is the
following sentence in which ‘he could bake’ is missing:

John could bake something, but I’m not sure what.

Gapping is another type that is similar to pseudogapping. Gapping allows the deletion of modals
and auxiliaries as well as the verb:

Mark can play the piano and Sara [can play] the guitar.

Other kinds of ellipsis are: Comparative deletion: I’ve read more books than you [have read].
Stripping: happens when everything from a clause is omitted except for aa element. It is usually
with a particle such as: too, also, and as well. An example would be: “My mum is coming
tomorrow not[coming] Friday.” N-ellipsis: occurs when a part of the noun phrase is deleted. An
example is: “I only brought one book, but I see you have two [books].”
Two major restrictions on where ellipsis can occur
First, the constituent that is deleted must be identical to its antecedent. In other words, the
elements that gets deleted in the ellipsis must contain all the material in the antecedent. Second,
Second, the sequence that is omitted must be the complement of some “licensor”. In the case of
VP, ACD, and pseudogapping, this is a tensed auxiliary or modal. Before the ellipsis you can
find a modal or tensed auxiliary right before the place where the missing constituent is. In
sluicing, the licensor is the wh-phrase.

Textual and situational ellipsis

There is textual ellipsis and situational ellipsis. In textual ellipsis, we use ellipsis because we can
easily comprehend the sentence as a result of the previous sentences in which the obligatory
elements were mentioned. For example, some specific verbs and adjectives need to be followed
by ‘that clause’. However, in some texts that is clause is omitted after such verbs and adjectives,
but we can completely understand the sentence:

I knew [that] someone told you.

Marry was glad [that] we invited her.

Are you afraid [that] you are leveling the house early.

Ellipsis can also happen when we do not repeat some obligatory constituents in a coordinated
clause connected by and, but, and or. in these senses, we automatically understand the sentence,
even without the missing words:

We did the work and [we] spend some time together.

He wrote to [everyone he could think of who might help] and [he] phoned everyone he could
think of who might help.

Do you want to stay in or [do you want to] go out tomorrow.

Moreover, Verb complements can also be left out in conversations when it is obvious what the
complement is:

Speaker 1: why don’t they talk?

Speaker 2: they don’t want to [talk]. They are tired

Speaker 1: tell me more about the event.

Speaker 2: I won’t [tell you more about the event]. I am busy.

In situational ellipsis, usually subject pronouns are omitted because from the situation we know
subject. Specifically, most of the times the subject” I” is omitted in the beginning of a clause
which is informal:

Bye [I] wish you all the success.

[I] love you.

Omission of third person pronouns is also possible at the beginning of a clause, when who is
referred to is obvious:

I saw mark at the market. [he] bought some grocery.

In situational ellipsis, sometimes we can delete both the subject and the auxiliary verb. This is
mostly used in questions:

[have you] finished the report?

[do you] want some tea?

Yeah. [I have] just made some.

Situational ellipsis can also be used on questions with questions tags, articles, and fixed
expressions.

Conclusion
Ellipsis is used on a wide range of sentences. Sometimes we do it consciously and sometimes
unconsciously, without realizing that we have elided elements from the sentence. Human
language is very interesting, the way our mind works and the way we can always have little and
big changes in our language system. Although you delete some necessary elements from the
sequence of words, we are still able to know what is meant by the context.
References:

Burton-Roberts, N. (1989). Analyzing sentences: An introduction to English syntax. Longman.

Carnie, A. (2021). Syntax: A generative introduction. Wiley-Blackwell, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Cambridge dictionary: Find definitions, meanings & translations. Cambridge Dictionary: Find
Definitions, Meanings & Translations. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2022, from
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/

Nordquist, Richard. "Ellipsis: Definition and Examples in Grammar." ThoughtCo, Aug. 28,
2020, thoughtco.com/ellipsis-grammar-and-rhetoric-1690640.