Ellipsis in English grammar is when words have been intentionally left out to make the sentences more concise instead of having wordy sentences.
Despite the omission of words, the use of ellipsis should not affect the completeness and correctness of the sentence.
Examples:
| A: Are you joining the meeting later? B: [I’m] not sure. |
| [Have you] Seen your friend lately? |
| The young lady [who was] performing onstage won the prize last year. |
Two Types of Ellipsis
- Situational Ellipsis
This type of ellipsis is mostly used in speaking in informal conversation.
We exclude grammatical words like articles, pronouns, prepositions, and to shorten responses to questions.
Examples:
| A: [Is] She coming? B: [I] hope so. |
| A: How are you doing? B: [I] Couldn’t be better. |
| A: When [are] you leaving? B: [I’m leaving] Next week. |
| [Care for some] coffee? |
| [It’s a] Shame you have to go now. |
2. Textual Ellipsis
This type of ellipsis is used in both speaking and writing. This choice of omission takes place since we can easily understand the context from the surrounding text. It is also more related to specific grammar rules.
a. After “and” and “but”
In coordinated clauses joined together by ‘and‘, ‘but’ and ‘or’, some words in the latter clause are often omitted since they have been brought up in the first clause.
Examples:
| I went to the gym and then [I went] to the supermarket. |
| I asked for three thousand euros monthly salary, but they only offered me two [thousand euros]. |
| Alex finished the race at 28.5 seconds and John [finished the race] at 32.75 [seconds]. |
b. Adverbial and Relative Clauses
To reduce adverbial clauses, textual ellipsis is also used. This is done by discarding the subject and the auxiliary verb after the conjunctions while, when, after, before.
| When [you are] interrupting the speaker, you should at least be brief and straightforward. |
| She was doing the laundry while [she was] watching the TV series. |
To reduce relative clauses, sometimes the relative pronoun and auxiliary verb ‘be’ are discarded.
| The defendant [who was] indicted is a very influential man. |
| The property [which was] foreclosed was built in the 80’s. |