Ellipsis - Grammar III | Baamboozle - Baamboozle

What type of ellipsis can you see here? "We wanted fried fish, but they gave us grilled (fish)"

Ellipsis of head of noun phrase in co-ordinated clauses with anaphoric reference

What elements can be ommitted in the adverbial finite clauses?

Whole predication, subject complement only (except when the verb in the subordinate clause is other than be), adverbial only, lexical verb only

Which are the types of ellipsis that are non dependant on the linguistic context? Give examples

Situational ellipsis, ex: "(Have you) finished?" and structural ellipsis, ex: "I believe (that) you're right"

Which are three types of ellipsis according to their position in the sentence?

Initial, medial and final ellipsis

What is one exercise to help students practice recognizing ellipsis?

Provide a dialogue and ask students to fill in the omitted parts.

How can ellipsis be used to improve writing style and fluency?

It makes writing less repetitive and more natural.

What are some teaching strategies to help students recognize ellipsis?

Use cloze tests, sentence-completion tasks, and comparative structures.

Analyze the function of ellipsis in: “She went to the party, and he didn’t.”

"didn’t" implies "go to the party"

Identify the ellipsis in this sentence: “I bought the red shirt, not the blue.”

"the blue [shirt]"

What is the difference between anaphoric and cataphoric ellipsis?

Anaphoric refers to backward reference; cataphoric to forward reference.

What is situational ellipsis?

Omissions that depend on the situation, not just grammar.

Can ellipsis occur at the beginning of a sentence? Why or why not?

Rarely, because English sentence structure generally requires an explicit subject, but yes, it can occur.

Why is ellipsis more common in spoken than in written English?

Because spoken language relies heavily on shared context and is more informal.

In the sentence “I can swim, and he can too,” what is omitted?

"swim," the main verb

Give an example of ellipsis in a coordinated clause.

I have washed the dishes and dried them

What part is omitted in verbal ellipsis?

The verb or auxiliary (in verbal ellipsis).

What part of the sentence is typically omitted in nominal ellipsis?

The head noun (in nominal ellipsis).

How does ellipsis contribute to textual cohesion?

Ellipsis creates cohesion by linking parts of discourse through shared meaning without repeating language.

What is the main communicative function of ellipsis?

Its function is to avoid repetition and maintain cohesion and economy in language.

What is ellipsis in grammar?

Ellipsis is the omission of words that are understood from context but necessary for grammatical completeness.