Let us understand from the originated word Ellipsis. Ellipsis is a Greek word meaning omission and the omission of a word or words necessary to the grammatical completeness of a clause or sentence is called ellipsis.
Therefore, when a word or group of words is taken out of a sentence without changing the context of the sentence, it is called ellipsis. When an ellipsis occur, it is understandable that the word or words are missing and still the meaning shall remain same and clear.
From the above it is clear that a paragraph or sentence that shows ellipsis is said to be elliptical and a sentence is said to be elliptical when an ellipsis appear in it.
What is an Elliptical Sentence?
The Elliptical sentence is a short form of sentence with some excerpts, but it ends up having the same meaning. It is used to prevent and avoid unnecessary repetition of words.
Proper use does not require that all sentences shall remain completed. It often allows and sometimes requires the omission of words which, although necessary in construction, are so easily provided by the mind that it would be a waste of time to pronounce them.
Here are some examples of elliptical constructions. We will use them for our further understanding on both an elliptical sentence and an elliptical clause.
Types of Elliptical Construction
These three structures comprise the principal types of elliptical construction:
- A noun ellipsis removes a noun from a sentence. For instance: “I did a full homework, and May did too”. This sentence removes the phrase “a full homework” from its second independent clause. So the sentence is not diminishing the understanding.
- A verb ellipsis omits a verb from a sentence. For instance: I drank water and Frale Milk. The verb “drank” appears only once but it refers to both “I” and “Frale”.
- A verb phrase ellipsis omits an entire phrase that’s anchored by a verb. For instance: “I went to the park, but Jim did not”. We know that the thing Jim did do was “do to the park”, but we omit it as part of this elliptical construction. The meaning of the sentence remained same.
Examples on Elliptical Sentences:
- No one ate more sugar cookies than I.
- Marine brother was more excited to go to the football game than she.
- The pop quiz did not worry my classmates as much as me.
- My dogs are jealous that the new kitten is getting more attention than they.
- I like him better than Neon does
- This racket is not so heavy as that
- I have more confidence in Bains than is Ralf
- Friam is younger than Luk
- Gron likes you better than me
- You like him better than I do