Questions tagged [ellipsis]
An ellipsis is an omission of words from a clause, or the punctuation mark "..."
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Ellipsis in phrasal verbs
Can we only omit the verb in omission?
For example, is this sentence right?
How to get over a breakup or over someone.
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Using 'all' without a noun or pronoun [closed]
As far as I understand, 'all' should always be followed by a noun or pronoun, so the sentence 'I want to buy all' is incorrect. However, in computer games and mobile apps, I often see phrases like '...
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Is this an example of ellipsis? '... , only a glimmer of the moon.'
There wasn't much light, only a glimmer of the moon.
In this sentence, is the highlighted part an example of ellipsis? Could we expand this to the following sentence?
There wasn't much light, as ...
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Things he knew were not true, he knew could not be true [closed]
Things he knew were not true, he knew could not be true.
Is this a grammatical sentence?
I don't really know what material has been ellipted, so a bracket analysis would help.
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Are commas of omission archaic? As in "I gave Mary a car and Tom, a boat"
It is very common to say or write something like: "I gave Mary a car and Tom, a boat." See also The Comma of Omission by Margie Holds Court. The question is the pragmatism of a comma here.
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List of quotes with ellipsis. Separate by commas?
I have this text:
She is known for using phrases like. "Here will be…" "This place will be called…" "This wall will have this color…" She never starts her sentences with ...
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A number of people wanted to, but the investigation failed to reveal they
Fowler reads
“There are a number of people who might have wanted to kill Robert
[...] , but the intervening two decades have failed to reveal whom
[read who].”
(Although whom might seem to be the ...
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How to quote material that ends sections with semicolons
I haven't found an answer to this specific scenario:
"This is an example of the quoted text from the report where this section ends with a semicolon;"
That is also the end of my sentence so ...
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“Think+Noun+good luck” vs “Think + Noun+ is good luck” [duplicate]
I saw a question on Quora recently which asked about the grammar of the following sentence:
“The British think ravens good luck”
Interestingly, most answers weren't familiar with this structure but ...
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Can I use an ellipsis (three dots) when I'm about to tell a story?
Consider the following sentence:
So how this method is useful, you might say. Here's the story.
and then I'm telling the story from a new paragraph. So my question is can I use an ellipsis at the ...
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Ellipsis of "to" in successive infinitives
Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage reads
When a second infinitive is used after a to-infinitive, the second
(and third, etc.) example is not necessarily preceded by to.
Contrast ‘can be ...
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'Oil produced' vs 'produced oil', take 2
Recently a question was asked here on EL&U:
This is the sentence I’m confused about:
After eight years, the amount of oil produced rose significantly.
Why is it oil produced and not produced oil?
...
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Is it grammatical to use ellipses to indicate a character reminiscing?
Is the usage of ellipses correct here?
He sat on his wooden desk, fixing the reel on his cassette. When he played the cassette, his mind played the memories of the past ...
[a paragraph outlining the ...
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Is such an ellipsis acceptable?
If we have the sentence
She is interested in philosophy (especially philosophy of mathematics).
is the following ellipsis acceptable in modern (American) English?
She is interested in philosophy (...
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Spoken equivalent of ... (ellipsis)?
When skipping part of the sentence or paragraph in a direct quote, it is common to use the ellipsis (...)
There are two ways of misunderstanding a poem ... the other to praise it for qualities that ...
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Using ellipsis (omission) with verbs? [duplicate]
I want to know if a sentence like this is possible: "After leaving school, John became a barrister, Alex a judge and Mark a writer." In the last two instances, "became" is omitted ...
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What kind of elliptical construction would the following interpretation fall into and what are some similar examples?
Here is the sentence construction:
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of
God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being
built up.
I want to ...
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‘Go on... have a listen.’ - ellipsis or comma?
Would I use an ellipsis or a comma for ‘Go on... have a listen.’ or ‘Go on, have a listen.’? I guess the true sentence would be ‘Go on and have a listen.’; would you say that’s correct? Thank you in ...
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Is this sentence correct: "I want you to accept me just like I do to you" [closed]
I know I can simply say it as "I want you to accept me just like I accept you". However, I want to know how can I say the same sentence using ellipsis.
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Sentence with doubtful syntax
A sentence that does not seem right on account of syntax
Not only are verbs largely uninflected in English, but also nouns, pronouns and adjectives.
This sentence seems very unusual although it is ...
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Modifying a whole list of nouns by attaching modifier to the first noun only
With sentences like:
I visited the parks in the area, museums, and shops.
We enjoyed dancing on our wedding day, chatting to guests, and listening to the band.
He spoke to all the boys in the ...
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Does this sentence of Melville lack a verb?
I cannot make much sense of of the following passage from Moby-Dick:
It is not the least among the strange things bred by the intense artificialness of sea-usages, that while in the open air of the ...
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What tense is the 'come' in this sentence? [duplicate]
Is 'come' in the following sentence the base form or the past participle?
“And Royce seemed to be everything I’d dreamed of. The fairy tale
prince, come to make me a princess. Everything I wanted...”
...
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Is there an ellipsis here?
In a period characterized by the dismantling of previous structures and the merging of different cultures and societies, magical beliefs also merged, giving birth to new realities issued from the ...
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Comparison (using Ellipsis)
I am trying to figure out when do we need to use an action verb explicitly and when can we omit it using the (ellipsis concept). For Example:
John is taller than Jim [is] (I understood that here is ...
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What is the maximum number of consecutive periods can be used in a grammatically-correct sentence? [duplicate]
I'm curious how many period characters can be in a row in a valid sentence.
I acknowledge that there are different conventions for how to treat dots (e.g. treating an ellipsis as a single character or ...
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Capital After an Ellipsis
In a British/Australian English is there a capital placed after every ellipsis or are there conditional rules?
For example, “Even his speech… (“P” or “p”)itched so that everyone outside his door ...
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Subjunctive and Ellipsis/Syllepsis
Reading Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage, I came across this sentence under “subjunctive mood:” “It was as if Sally were disturbed in some way and was translating this disturbance into the ...
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At angles you’d have to be careful walking (at)
A car review article titled "Escape the City and the Roads with the 2020 Subaru Outback" has this paragraph:
X-Mode also enables the Hill Descent Control. After a quick coffee break 800 ...
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changes we have felt it necessary to make [parse of "necessary to make"]
From a textbook:
The analysis of content clauses presented in this chapter differs in significant ways from that found in traditional grammar: in this section, therefore, we explain some of the ...
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How to punctuate an ellipsis after a full stop?
I am trying to write some dialogue where an ellipsis is used after a statement with a full stop. So essentially its not that the first statement is being interrupted, its that the next statement takes ...
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Do I need to repeat the "are" in this sentence?
Example 1: Recent interdisciplinary studies advance the argument that emotions are social phenomena but not separable from bodily response.
Example 2: Recent interdisciplinary studies advance the ...
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"While" as a preposition
Occasionally I see sentences where "while" functions as a preposition:
While assistant director for statistical standards at the Bureau of the Census, Morris H. Hansen was one of the first ...
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They didn't object to his (being given a second chance)
a. They objected to my being given a second chance, but not to his being given a second chance.
Can you omit the second verb phrase being given a second chance as in (b)?
b. They objected to my ...
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Is this a case of suitable ellipsis, or grammatically correct?
Is the following sentence considered correct or acceptable?
The crash cart was originally designed and patented by ECRI Institute founder, Joel J. Nobel, M.D., while a surgical resident at ...
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Can a noun functioning as modifier of an NP fuse with the head?
In a section titled "Fused modifier-heads", A Student's Introduction to English Grammar says:
The modifiers which most readily fuse with the head include these:
• determinatives used in ...
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How do I omit part of part of a legal definition with an ellipsis?
I need to contract the below sentence (it was legalese that I have simplified) to just present (b), but need to indicate that (b) is not the only condition:
Ending on the earlier of (a) [occurrence]...
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Indefinite article + superlative adjective
There can no more be a best possible world than there can be a largest number.
What does "a largest number" mean here? What is the difference in that sentence between "the" and "a"?
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Doubts about using an ellipsis within a quotation and outside a quotation
In many books, authors end their quotations by using ". . . ." (a period to end the sentence and an ellipsis to indicate ommited material).
Is it acceptable to apply the same structure in sentences ...
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Omission of "there is" in a clause
Is this an omission (ellipsis)? What is this omission called in linguistics?
What has changed in the interim, to my knowledge, is a huge explosion of self- and mutual-admiration among those who ...
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How can an adjective follow and modify an adverb in “somewhere new”? Is this ellipsis?
I would like to go somewhere new tonight.
I met someone nice at the party
Are the preceding two sentences the same as the following, but with ellipsis applied?
I would like to go somewhere [that is] ...
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Can preposition "to" be omitted in this case
Aston Martin’s IPO will provide further clues to which category ultra-expensive carmakers really belong.
its context:economist
Grammatically,you need to have " clues to which..." and " ...
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Gapping comma in a list
Consider the following sentence:
The baker may seem to be a gentleman, the butcher may seem to be a rascal, and the candlestick maker may seem to be a fool.
Since the verb phrase "may seem to be" ...
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Usage of colon versus ellipsis when restating a definition
I'm editing a paper and came across a sentence which uses an ellipsis to separate the main idea from a restatement as follows:
The suspicion that the butler committed the murder was just that... a ...
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Does “me” take singular verb form?
I have seen a meme which confuses me:
"At 18:
Others: have partners, do drugs etc.
Me: watches tv and sleeps
Is this grammatically correct and does "me" take singular verb form?
I ...
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How do you mark a bulleted list with a common stem sentence? [duplicate]
How do you mark a bulleted list with a common stem sentence? For example:
Do you capitalize each item and use a colon?
This Summer we should:
Go to the beach.
Eat a sandwich.
Visit the library.
Do ...
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Using the Ellipsis at the End of a Page [closed]
I am writing an Introductory page for my book. Being that it is the last sentence on the page, would it be OK to say, "Let's get on with the story... " or would I write "Let's get on with the story."? ...
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Is it grammatically correct to omit a comma after dialogue ending in an ellipsis? [duplicate]
I know that Grammarly isn't always correct but before tonight, I didn't know punctuation directly after an ellipsis was grammatically correct, even in special circumstances such as dialogue.
Unless ...
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Ellipsis related to subjunctive mood? [closed]
You Sunk My Carrier: How the Navy Could Sink China's New Aircraft Carriers
That means war. Here's how it goes down.
by James Holmes
National Interest.org
Although It is certain that an event is ...
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Can a sentence have no verb except in what would otherwise be its noun phrase?
Can a sentence have no verb except in what would otherwise be its noun phrase?
e.g.
The car in the street I walk down.
I'm guessing that "the street I walk down" would be the noun phrase, and it ...
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