ELLIPSIS

= substitution by nothing; grammatical omission

- as with substitution, ellipsis may be nominal, verbal, or clausal

Positional categories of ellipsis:

3 categories of ellipsis according to where the ellipsis occurs within a construction:

INITIAL: the initial elements are ellipted:

(I) hope he’s there. (Of) course he’s here. (The) fact is I don’t know what to do. (I’m a) fraid he
won’t be there.

(Do you) want a drink? (Have you) got any money? (I’m) sorry I couldn’t be there. (I’ll) see you
later.

MEDIAL: medial elements are ellipted:  John owns a Volvo and Tom (owns) a BMW.

FINAL: the final elements are ellipted:

I’m happy if you are (happy).  I know that we haven’t yet set the record straight, but we will (set
the record straight).

NOMINAL ELLIPSIS = elliptical noun phrases;

- usually results from final ellipsis, ie heads and any postmodifiers tend to be ellipted; omission
of the head of a noun phrase:

He had to admit that Sarah’s drawings were as good as his own   . Tomorrow’s meeting will have to
be our first or our last   .

VERBAL ELLIPSIS:

- the dominant type is final

- typically, the subject and operator (and perhaps other auxiliaries) remain, and the predication
is ellipted:

I’m happy if you are   .  If I could have bought a ticket, I would have   . Tom will be playing,
but I don’t think Martin will (be)   .

- another kind of verbal ellipsis omits everything except the lexical verb: Has she been crying? -
No, laughing.

CLAUSAL ELLIPSIS:

- involves ellipsis of the whole clause or the whole clause except for an introductory word:

We’re bound to win the prize some day.  Yes, but when   ?

Somebody has hidden my notebook, but I don’t know who / why / where   .

- a to-infinitive clause may be omitted if it functions as the complementation of a verb or
adjective.     An elliptical to-infinitive clause may consist of just the introductory unstressed
particle to:

 You can borrow my pen, if you want to   . You will speak to who(m) ever I tell you to   .

 Somebody ought to help. Shall I ask Peter to   ?

- in the negative, not is placed before to: She borrowed my pen, although I told her not to   .