Questions tagged [ellipsis]
An ellipsis is an omission of words from a clause, or the punctuation mark "..."
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16 views
Re: Omitting articles and prepositions (“the” and “by”). Idiomatic or colloquial, slang, etc.?
Even though ASL was my first language, I generally don't omit articles, except in certain cases:
Girl said she was going to call me...sigh.
This example needs no explanation (locally, that ...
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0answers
19 views
Punctuation in a sentence split between two slides – should I use ellipsis?
I'm making a powerpoint presentation and will also later animate it.
I'm splitting one sentence "Is X only for the rich?" into two parts – "Is X" and "only for the rich?" (they are the big captions ...
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0answers
50 views
At about age 30 [migrated]
Is is grammatically right to leave out the definite article in the following sentence?
what would change if the word about were not added?
At about (the) age 30, Jesus was baptized
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1answer
47 views
Can I use an ellipsis at the beginning of a quote? [closed]
Can I use an ellipsis at the beginning of a quote? The quote I have used had multiple sentences and I only wanted a few of the sentences so I took out part of the quote:
"...The witness for the ...
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2answers
72 views
when I held the assembly that women are fun I were just lying
"when I held the assembly that women are fun I were just lying"
The speaker had previously said so to an assembly of workmates.
What does the sentence mean?
The sentence can be heard (with the ...
3
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1answer
44 views
“Go before the numbers build”
In Mark Ravenhill's The Cane, there is a line which I think it's a slang, but I can't find any references on the net. Please help me:
Maureen: Which is why I’ve invited the Head here today. I want ...
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1answer
44 views
What does “… …” mean over chats or posts? [closed]
I wonder in a text what does "... ..." mean? For example, someone comments "... ..." on a picture. I tried looking at Urban Dictionary, but it didn't work.
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0answers
20 views
Is it ok to use just “Careful!” instead of ”Be careful!” preceded by “be”?
Is it “correct” if I say Careful! here without be in front of it?
Careful! There is a car coming!
Careful! Just one step back and you will fall off the cliff.
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2answers
88 views
Should repeated words after an ellipsis be capitalized?
I've searched everywhere, including questions about whether to capitalize after a stutter (no), capitalize after an ellipsis (no if it's a continuation of a sentence, yes if it's a new sentence), but ...
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2answers
63 views
“Straight down that way, then a *hard* to the left” : noun, or rather adj of elliptical material?
From Shameless US, season 9 episode 5, minute 20:12:
Straight down that way, then a hard to the left.
Here is a transcript of the episode.
Is hard here a noun, or rather adj of elliptical ...
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1answer
53 views
How to omit lines when quoting a play
I am citing the play All My Sons in an essay I am writing.
I don't want to have a lot of unnecessary content in my quotes and I am not too familiar with quoting plays, so I want to ask how I should ...
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1answer
41 views
Proper grammar with ellipsis?
Bear with me, please. Consider this sentence:
"He might've turned his head and seen the incident, but I'm not sure."
This sounds awkward, but it makes sense, as seen agrees with might have. But ...
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1answer
43 views
That's you (that table is for you / is your table) [closed]
A waitress, who is going to serve a dish to a lady, says "That's you" pointing towards an empty table, at which the lady sits.
The scene is from the series Shameless, s07e08, min 5:40
What does "...
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1answer
35 views
“in favor” used adverbially
I'd like to know whether the phrase "in favor" can be used adverbially, e.g. They all voted in favor.
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0answers
63 views
What do we call the process of dropping the subject at the beginning of a sentence?
In casual conversation I've been noticing this more and more in my own speaking as well as others. The subject will be missing from the beginning of the sentence and instead it's inferred as the ...
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1answer
137 views
Using commas in cases of “extreme contrast” (commas in compound predicates with “but”)
It seems to me that many, including myself recently, are applying this "extreme contrast" rule to the wrong cases. (See #2 in link below.)
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/...
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2answers
753 views
Help me to explain this sentence's grammar
Global temperatures have already risen 0.9℃ and continental temperatures 1.5℃ degrees above pre-industrial levels"
This is a sentence from an essay about ice melting and environment changing. It ...
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1answer
177 views
Comma use when omitting a repeated verb (ellipsis)
I am 'querying' an agent... And I would like to keep grammar mistakes and infelicities down to a manageable dozen. So here goes:
In the following sentence,
"In the story, Gilgamesh is king, and ...
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votes
3answers
359 views
“Everyone is fine and having fun” or “Everyone is fine and is having fun.”
While both sentences are probably grammatical, I’m wondering which one is preferable. To me, the first sentence sounds awkward, but the second sentence may have an unnecessary is. Basing your answers ...
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2answers
128 views
“In 200 meters slight left” - Google Maps grammatical mistake? [closed]
When Google Maps gives directions, it says "In 200 meters slight left". There is no verb in this sentence. Is it grammatically correct or just a mistake by Google?
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0answers
84 views
omission of infinitive marker: i.e., He'll come, if he wants (to)
To me, these
He'll come, if he wants
He'll come, if he's able
He'll come, if I allow him
are simply variants of
He'll come, if he wants to
He'll come, if he's able to
He'll ...
2
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1answer
156 views
What does an ellipses mean when it is between paragraphs?
So I was reading a narrative and I came across an ellipse. I know that ellipses are used sometimes to mark ommissions in a quote, however, what does it mean when it is used between paragraphs - and I'...
2
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2answers
85 views
Proper ellipsis [linguistic] for “Yes/No” questions/answers containing “do + like”
Is it grammatically correct to say/write the following
Q: Do you like to eat ice cream/apples...?
A: No, I don't like [to eat apples]./ Yes, I like [to eat apples].
Is it necessary to include the ...
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0answers
39 views
“You mean the guy who sells fruit?” or “Do you mean the guy who sells fruit?” [duplicate]
In conversation, which is correct:
You mean the one with the guy who sells fruit?
or
Do you mean the one with the guy who sells fruit?
My ESL student has asked me why we don't always include ...
3
votes
1answer
138 views
Why isn’t “It’s” a complete sentence, but “It is” is? [duplicate]
I’m a native English speaker, so I understand that
It’s.
is not a complete sentence, whereas the sentence
It is.
is a complete sentence.
What linguistic mechanism prevents “It’s.” from being ...
3
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1answer
845 views
Capitalization of a word after an ellipsis
Should I capitalize the word "don't" in the following sentence?
Listen... don’t panic.
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0answers
156 views
“Since my bachelor’s and master’s degree” or “…bachelor’s and master’s degrees”?
What do you think is the proper sentence (and why) between
Since my bachelor’s and master’s degree
Since my bachelor’s and master’s degrees
My head tells me the second one is the proper ...
1
vote
1answer
77 views
What does 'back up with' mean? [closed]
The expression comes from the following meme of Stevie Wonder
How I feel while backing up with 5% window tint
I think it's some kind of insulting the blinds. I don't enjoy those things, but the ...
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0answers
47 views
How would you punctuate a separate sentence within parentheses with an ellipsis at the end?
For context:
I think the whipped cream really helps cut through the strong alcohol taste, and >it also adds some fat, so give it a shot! (No pun intended…)
Do I need to put a period/full stop ...
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4answers
1k views
Relative pronouns “where” and “when”: where can they be omitted?
I know the "omitting-rules" regarding the relative pronouns who/which/that and whose. How does it work with where and when? In the first sentence I cannot omit where but I can easily omit when in the ...
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1answer
122 views
Is “He is, and so is Ryan and McConnell” grammatical?
This is a portion of a recent reader comment for an article in the Washington Post:
"[Trump] leaves himself open to the charge that he is violating his
oath of office"
He is, and so is Ryan ...
5
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1answer
1k views
What does “you like stick” and “I like aerosol” mean?
This is a part of a song named Fools by Australian singer Troye Sivan. I don’t get the meaning of the third line. I get the literal meaning of stick and aerosol, but I don’t think a piece of wood and ...
2
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3answers
91 views
Shall I get us a Chinese for dinner tonight? [duplicate]
Is this sentence grammatically correct?
Shall I get us a Chinese for dinner tonight?
I saw this in a book and it looks a bit strange to me. Should there be an article before the word Chinese?
...
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0answers
485 views
How are parentheses ellipsis (…) used in quotations?
I've seen some people use (...) instead of ... in quotations and I was wondering what the difference was. Do parentheses indicate something else like brackets [...] do? Is it just a stylistic thing? ...
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1answer
100 views
“There’s a horse running a pal of mine owns a leg of” [closed]
What does the sentence in bold mean? It from the movie 'Poirot':
Poirot: And you, Hastings, do not you run away with such celerity. I have work for you too.
Hastings: Oh! Er... As a matter ...
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0answers
138 views
“good lay in” --> what does “in” stand for here?
What is the exact function of the word "in" here?
Richard, I’ve had the last good lay in an old whore, and it had to be in front of the mirror.
For the context of this sentence, see this article.
...
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2answers
346 views
Is it common to end a sentence with “very”?
I've read Practical English Usage by M. Swan to get the notion of ellipsis and find out whether it is possible to make a sentence below but I got to nowhere.
It ends with "very" and I'm not sure ...
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0answers
102 views
When citing, is omitted reference replaced by ellipsis?
Let's say I want to quote this sentence from a text I refer to as "Smith (2016)":
Research has shown that dogs can't fly (Watson 2015), but they can bark.
but I don't want to quote Smith's ...
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0answers
51 views
Ellipsis of “either” in the mentioned complex sentence?
It seems that in the following sentence one "either" is omitted where I put [*].
There is a crucial difference between an act of communication either being reasonably offered or taken as conveying ...
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0answers
277 views
Do the ellipsis/ellipses (…) replace commas?
There is contradicting information on how to use the ellipsis/ellipses (and contradicting information on what its exact name is called--but that's irrelevant) so I'll ask. And I know it's mostly a ...
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1answer
319 views
Singular/plural forms of objects with “respectively” [closed]
Which of the following two sentences is correct?
A and B are the minimum and maximum value, respectively.
A and B are the minimum and maximum values, respectively.
I tend to think that the first one ...
3
votes
1answer
181 views
“once put” vs. “once it is put”
Is the ellipsis of "it is" in the following sentence acceptable/preferred?
Once [it is] put in the context of philosophy of language, the
problem X can be recast as follows.
Such ellipse after ...
1
vote
1answer
108 views
The Taller Girls of the Two Girls [Ellipsis]
I have a case in which the head of a noun phrase can be omitted.
the taller girl of the two girls
First of all, can I consider taller a new head or should I only notice that the head is omitted (...
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0answers
224 views
Ellipsis in a Noun Phrase
I am doing research about Noun Phrases in English and their equivalents in my onw language (Vietnamese).
I have a small part in my article for the cases in which the head noun is omitted.
...
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0answers
36 views
Ellipse of “in which” after “the way”
The term "the way in which" is very common in English texts. But usually "in which" sounds unnecessary to me. Is it accepted/proffered to just omit it.
Example:
The different you sense between ...
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2answers
332 views
Use or omit ellipsis when using part of a quotation at the start of a sentence?
Full quotation: "I love the president and it's an honour to be here", said Anthony Scaramucci, President Trump's new White House communications director.
Example 1 (ellipsis): "...it's an honour to ...
3
votes
6answers
297 views
“Electricity has a velocity (that is) as high as light’s (is)”
Electricity has a velocity (that is) as high as light’s.
Electricity has a velocity (that is) as high as light’s is.
These two sentences both seem to be correct to me, but I am in doubt about ...
1
vote
1answer
472 views
Punctuation: Dialogue that trails off and picks up again
How would you correctly punctuate dialogue that trails off, but then picks up again?
A:
"Something about the way she smells ..." The man breathed in deep, a smile spreading across his face. "... ...
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0answers
204 views
Punctuating dialogue with action tag after mid-sentence ellipsis
When speech trails off for a bit, then resumes after an action tag, I tend to punctuate like this:
"I'll be there in..." she checked the clock "...ten minutes."
Basically the same as I'd do for an ...
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2answers
764 views
Omit same verbs in list of clauses
First, I have to admit that I don't know a good term to refer to this case, nor do I have a concrete example. Everything is just from a vague memory. So if you can correct me or suggest a good ...
