Is this sentence considered correct?
His eyes, still on me, were speaking of cruelty.
I think whiz-deletion is applied to it, but I am not entirely sure. Can someone tell me?
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Yes, his eyes, (which were) .....– TimRJul 22, 2015 at 22:12
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1Possible duplicate of passive Vs active or omission of 'which is'– Edwin AshworthAug 6, 2016 at 11:16
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1 Answer
Yes, obviously. It's the reduced alternative of:
His eyes, which were still on me, were speaking of cruelty.
Such an ellipsis, called "whiz-deletion" is quite common. (Such an ellipsis, which is called "whiz-deletion" is quite common)
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@Yoshiyuki Sekiguchi: Read more by clicking on the term (link) in red. Jul 22, 2015 at 23:00
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@Sankarane: I don't understand the purpose of your edit, but, Hey! it's your answer. :) Jul 23, 2015 at 1:14
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@FF: This wasn't what I meant: "... Here again, "which [were/was/is/etc.] has been deleted." To be precise: "were/was". That's why :-) Thanks for adding the link! Jul 23, 2015 at 1:29
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I'm none the wiser. While I was adding the link, I corrected some mangled [TO BE] forms in your original, but I left your explanatory text pointing out that whiz-deletion also involves deleting the conjugated [TO BE] form (were/was/is/etc.) associated with whatever subject which refers back to. You've just replaced that potentially informative text with what's effectively just a repetition of the penultimate sentence. (But it's still your answer! :) Jul 23, 2015 at 2:31