Section 16.5 Ellipsis
Here is something counterintuitive: some of the most grammatically interesting sentences are the ones with words missing. When someone says She can swim, and he can too, the second clause has no verb phrase—yet everyone understands that he can swim. The missing material is not random; it follows strict grammatical rules about what can be omitted and what must remain. Linguists call this ellipsis, and it is the grammar of what is not said.
Ellipsis is everywhere in natural speech and writing, where it creates concision and avoids cumbersome repetition. Understanding it also reveals something important about grammar: the sentence you see or hear is not always the full grammatical representation. The absent material is still there, structurally, even when it is not spoken or written.
Ellipsis is the omission of words recoverable from context, avoiding redundancy.
VP Ellipsis.
The verb phrase can be omitted after an auxiliary:
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She can swim, and he can [swim] too.
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She hasn’t arrived, but he has [arrived].
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They want to leave, and we do [want to leave] too.
Gapping.
In coordinated clauses, the second verb can be omitted:
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John ordered coffee, and Mary [ordered] tea.
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She plays piano, and he [plays] guitar.
Sluicing.
In questions, everything but the wh-word can be omitted:
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Someone called, but I don’t know who [called].
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She bought something, but I’m not sure what [she bought].
Noun Phrase Ellipsis.
Part of an NP can be omitted:
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I prefer the red shirt, not the blue [shirt].
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Some students passed; others [students] failed.
