Elliptical Structure

Elliptical Structure refers to the omission from a clause of one or more

In linguistics, Ellipsis or
words that would otherwise be required by the remaining elements.

Varieties of ellipsis have long formed a central explicandum for linguistic theory, since
elliptical phenomena seem to be able to shed light on basic questions of form-meaning
correspondence: in particular, the usual mechanisms of grasping a meaning from a form seem to be
bypassed or supplanted in the interpretation of elliptical structures, ones in which there is meaning
without form.

In generative linguistics, the term ellipsis has been applied to a range of phenomena in which a

perceived interpretation is fuller than that which would be expected based solely on the presence of
linguistic forms. Central examples drawn from English include sluicing as in, Verb Phrase ellipsis (VP-
ellipsis) as in, and noun phrase ellipsis (NP-ellipsis or N’-ellipsis) as in.

(1) John can play something, but I don’t know what.

(2) John can play the guitar; Mary can, too.
(3) John can play five instruments, and Mary can play six.
In each case, the second clause can be understood as in (4)-(6).

(4) John can play something, but I don’t know what John can play.
(5) John can play the guitar and Mary can play the guitar, too.
(6) John can play five instruments, and Mary can play six instruments.
These three kinds of ellipsis are distinguished as well by the fact that distributional facts lead us
to expect to find structural elements corresponding to the perceived interpretations: wh-phrases as in
(1) require clausal sources, modals like can in (2) take VP complements, and determiner-like elements
such as six in (3) require NP complements. In other words, selectional and subcategorization properties
of particular elements require us to posit elided structures in (1)-(3), if these properties are uniform
across the grammar.

Ellipsis has further been invoked in a range of other constructions, such as stripping (or bare
argument ellipsis) in (7), gapping in (8), fragment answers in (9), as well as a host of other cases that
fall under the general rubric of ‘conjunction reduction’:

(7) John can play the guitar, {and Mary, too/and Mary as well/but not Mary}.

John can play the guitar better than Mary.

(8) John can play the guitar, and Mary the violin.

John can play the guitar better than Mary the violin.
(9) Q: Who can play the guitar?

A: (Not) John.

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 In addition to these structures, the term 'ellipsis' covers a potential multitude of distinct
phenomena as it is used in general parlance, most of which are of little linguistic interest, or whose
connection to the types seen above is oblique at best (such as ellipsis).

Some examples of other elliptical phenomena are as follows:

Example: Jessica had five dollars; Monica, three. (The verb "had" was omitted at the comma).[3]

Example: What if I miss the deadline? (The verb phrase "will happen" was omitted, as in "What will
happen if I miss the deadline").[4]

Example: Fire when ready. (In the sentence, "you are" is understood, as in "Fire when you are ready.").

Agreement
In languages, agreement or concord is a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence
or phrase. Agreement happens when a word changes form depending on the other words to which it
relates.

For example, one does not say I is in English, because is cannot be used when the subject is I. The
word is is said not to agree with the word I. This is why the grammatical form is I am, even though the
verb still has the same function and basic meaning.

Agreement often adds redundancy to languages. In addition, in some languages, agreement allows

word order to be varied without resorting to case endings. In Swahili, with its many noun classes, if a
verb's arguments have different classes, a word order other than the default Subject Verb Object (SVO)
can be used because agreement makes it clear which words belong to the subject and which belong to
the object(s). Common types of characteristics that may trigger grammatical agreement are:

 Grammatical person: e.g. I am versus He is.

 Grammatical number: e.g. One car versus Two cars, or I am versus We are.
 Grammatical gender: e.g. Jenny loves her cat versus Jimmy loves his cat.
 Grammatical case e.g. I told him versus He told me.

Examples :

All regular verbs in English agree in the third-person singular of the present indicative by adding
a suffix of either -s or -es. The latter is generally used after stems ending in
the sibilants sh, ch, ss or zz(e.g. he rushes, it lurches, she amasses, it buzzes.)

Present tense of to love:

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 Number
Person
Singular Plural

First I love we love

Secon
you love you love
d

he/she/it they
Third
loves love

There are not many irregularities in this formation:

 to have, to go and to do render has, goes and does.

The highly irregular verb to be is the only verb with more agreement than this in the present tense.

Present tense of to be:

Number
Person
Singular Plural

First I am we are

Secon
you are you are
d

he/she/it they
Third
is are

Future tense of "to be":

Person Number

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 Singular Plural

First I shall be we shall be

Secon
you will be you will be
d

Third he/she/it will be they will be

Emphatic future tense of "to be":

Number
Person
Singular Plural

First I will be we will be

Secon
you shall be you shall be
d

Third he/she/it shall be they shall be

Note: the use of shall and the use of the emphatic tense are rare in Standard English.

In English, defective verbs generally show no agreement for person or number, they include the modal
verbs: can, may, shall, will, must, should, ought.

In Early Modern English agreement existed for the second person singular of all verbs in the present
tense, as well as in the past tense of some common verbs. This was usually in the form -est, but -
stand -t also occurred. Note that this does not affect the endings for other persons and numbers.
Example present tense forms: thou wilt, thou shalt, thou art, thou hast, thou canst. Example past tense
forms: thou wouldst, thou shouldst, thou wast, thou hadst, thou couldst

Note also the agreement shown by to be even in the subjunctive mood.

Imperfect subjunctive of to be in Early modern English:

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 Number
Person
Singular Plural

First (if) I were (if) we were

Secon
(if) thou wert (if) you were
d

(if) he/she/it (if) they

Third
were were

However, for nearly all regular verbs, a separate thou form was no longer commonly used in the past
tense. Thus the auxiliary verb to do is used, e.g. thou didst help, not thou helpedst.

Passive Voice

Use of Passive

Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who
or what is performing the action.

Example: My bike was stolen.

In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however, who
did it.

Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows:

Example: A mistake was made.

In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. You have
made a mistake.).

Form of Passive

Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)

Example: A letter was written.

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 When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:
 the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
 the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
 the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Examples of Passive 

Tense Subject Verb Object

writes a letter.
Simple Present Active: Rita

Passive: A letter is written by Rita.

Simple Past Active: Rita wrote a letter.

Passive: A letter was written by Rita.

Present Perfect Active: Rita has written a letter.

Passive: A letter has been written by Rita.

Future I Active: Rita will write a letter.

Passive: A letter will be written by Rita.

Hilfsverben Active: Rita can write a letter.

Passive: A letter can be written by Rita.

Examples of Passive 

Tense Subject Verb Object

is writing a letter.
Present Progressive Active: Rita

Passive: A letter is being written by Rita.

Past Progressive Active: Rita was writing a letter.

Passive: A letter was being written by Rita.

Past Perfect Active: Rita had written a letter.

Passive: A letter had been written by Rita.

Future II Active: Rita will have written a letter.

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 Passive: A letter will have been written by Rita.

Conditional I Active: Rita would write a letter.

Passive: A letter would be written by Rita.

Conditional II Active: Rita would have written a letter.

Passive: A letter would have been written by Rita.

Passive Sentences with Two Objects 

Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects
becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject
depends on what you want to put the focus on.

  Subject Verb Object 1 Object 2

wrote a letter to me.

Active: Rita

Passive: A letter was written to me by Rita.

Passive: I was written a letter by Rita.

As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. That’s why it is usually
dropped.

Personal and Impersonal Passive

Personal Passive simply means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the
passive sentence. So every verb that needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive.

Example: They build houses. – Houses are built.

Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there
is no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence). If you want to use an intransitive
verb in passive voice, you need an impersonal construction – therefore this passive is
calledImpersonal Passive.

Example: he says – it is said

Impersonal Passive is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. German, Latin). In
English, Impersonal Passive is only possible with verbs of perception (e. g. say, think, know).

Example: They say that women live longer than men. – It is said that women live longer than men.

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Although Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal Passive is more common.

Example: They say that women live longer than men. – Women are said to live longer than men.

The subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the sentence; the verb of
perception is put into passive voice. The rest of the sentence is added using an infinitive construction
with 'to' (certain auxiliary verbs and that are dropped).

Sometimes the term Personal Passive is used in English lessons if the indirect object of an active
sentence is to become the subject of the passive sentence.

Direct and Indirect Speech

Indirect Speech

In grammar, indirect or reported speech is a way of reporting a statement or question. A reported

question is called an indirect question. Unlike direct speech, indirect speech does not phrase the
statement or question the way the original speaker did; instead, certain grammatical categories are
changed. In addition, indirect speech is not enclosed in quotation marks.

Person is changed when the person speaking and the person quoting the speech are different.

Direct Speech
Direct or quoted speech is a sentence (or several sentences) that reports speech or thought in its
original form, as phrased by the first speaker. It is usually enclosed in quotation marks.

Grammatical forms may change when the reference point (origo) is changed. There are two reference
points: the point in time and the person currently speaking. A change of time causes a change in tense,
and a change in speaker may cause a change in person.

Altered grammatical
Direct speech Indirect speech
categories

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"It is raining hard." He said that it was raining hard. tense
.

2 "I have painted the ceiling He said that he had painted the ceiling

person, tense
. blue." blue.

3
"I will come to your party." He says that he will come to my party. person (twice)
.

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In the first sentence, the reference point changes from present to past: the original speaker sees the
rain pouring down, but the narrator is referring to a past event.

In the second and third sentence, the reference point changes from one person to another. In the third
example, the reference point moves from the person who intends to come to the party to the one
throwing the party.

Gerund

It refers to the usage of a verb (in its -ing form) and as a noun (for example, the verb "learning" in the
sentence "Learning is an easy process for some").

In English, the gerund is identical in form to the present participle (ending in -ing) and can behave as
a verb within a clause (so that it may be modified by an adverb or have an object), but the clause as a
whole (sometimes consisting of only one word, the gerund itself) acts as a noun within the larger
sentence. For example: Eating this cake is easy.

In "Eating this cake is easy," "eating this cake," although traditionally known as a phrase, is referred to
as a non-finite clause in modern linguistics. "Eating" is the verb in the clause, while "this cake" is the
object of the verb. "Eating this cake" acts as a noun phrase within the sentence as a whole, though; the
subject of the sentence is "cake."

Other examples of the gerund:

 I like swimming. (direct object)
 Swimming is fun. (subject)
Not all nouns that are identical in form to the present participle are gerunds. [1] The formal distinction is
that a gerund is a verbal noun – a noun derived from a verb that retains verb characteristics, that
functions simultaneously as a noun and a verb, while other nouns in the form of the present participle
(ending in -ing) are deverbal nouns, which function as common nouns, not as verbs at all. Compare:

 I like fencing. (gerund, an activity, could be replaced with "to fence")

 The white fencing adds to the character of the neighborhood. (deverbal, could be replaced with
an object such as "bench")

Double nature of the gerund

As the result of its origin and development the gerund has nominal and verbal properties.
The nominal characteristics of the gerund are as follows:

1. The gerund can perform the function of subject, object and predicative:

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  Smoking endangers your health. (subject)
 I like making people happy. (object)
2. The gerund can be preceded by a preposition:
 I'm tired of arguing.
3. Like a noun the gerund can be modified by a noun in the possessive case, a possessive
adjective, or an adjective:
 I wonder at John's keeping calm.
 Is there any objection to my seeing her?
 Brisk walking relieves stress.
The verbal characteristics of the gerund include the following:

1. The gerund of transitive verbs can take a direct object:

 I've made good progress in speaking English.
2. The gerund can be modified by an adverb:
 Breathing deeply helps you to calm down.
3. The gerund has the distinctions of aspect and voice.
 Having read the book once before makes me more prepared.
 Being deceived can make someone feel angry.

Verb patterns with the gerund

Verbs that are often followed by a gerund include admit, adore, anticipate, appreciate, avoid, carry on,
consider, contemplate, delay, deny, describe, detest, dislike, enjoy, escape, fancy, feel, finish, give,
hear, imagine, include, justify, listen to, mention, mind, miss, notice, observe, perceive, postpone,
practice, quit, recall, report, resent, resume, risk, see, sense, sleep, stop, suggest, tolerate  andwatch.
Additionally, prepositions are often followed by a gerund.

For example:

 I will never quit smoking.

 We postponed making any decision.
 After two years of deciding, we finally made a decision.
 We heard whispering.
 They denied having avoided me.
 He talked me into coming to the party.
 They frightened her out of voicing her opinion.

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Verbs followed by a gerund or a to-infinitive

With little change in meaning

advise, recommend and forbid:
These are followed by a to-infinitive when there is an object as well, but by a gerund otherwise.

 The police advised us not to enter the building, for a murder had occurred.  (Us is the object
of advised.)
 The police advised against our entering the building.  (Our is used for the gerund entering.)
consider, contemplate and recommend:
These verbs are followed by a to-infinitive only in the passive or with an object pronoun.

 People consider her to be the best.  – She is considered to be the best.

 I am considering sleeping over, if you do not mind.
begin, continue, start; hate, like, love, prefer
With would, the verbs hate, like, love, and prefer are usually followed by the to-infinitive.

 I would like to work there. (more usual than working)

When talking about sports, there is usually a difference in meaning between the infinitive and gerund
(see the next section).

With a change in meaning

like, love, prefer
In some contexts, following these verbs with a to-infinitive when the subject of the first verb is the
subject of the second verb provides more clarity than a gerund.

 I like to box. (I enjoy doing it myself.)

 I like boxing. (Either I enjoy watching it, I enjoy doing it myself, or the idea of boxing is
otherwise appealing )
 I do not like gambling, but I do like to gamble."
dread, hate and cannot bear:
These verbs are followed by a to-infinitive when talking subjunctively (often when using to think), but by
a gerund when talking about general dislikes.

 I dread / hate to think what she will do.

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 I dread / hate seeing him.
 I cannot bear to see you suffer like this.  (You are suffering now.)
 I cannot bear being pushed around in crowds.  (I never like that.)
forget and remember:
When these have meanings that are used to talk about the future from the given time, the to-infinitive is
used, but when looking back in time, the gerund.

 She forgot to tell me her plans. (She did not tell me, although she should have.)
 She forgot telling me her plans. (She told me, but then forgot having done so.)
 I remembered to go to work. (I remembered that I needed to go to work.)
 I remembered going to work. (I remembered that I went to work.)
go on:

 After winning the semi-finals, he went on to play in the finals.  (He completed the semi-finals
and later played in the finals.)
 He went on giggling, not having noticed the teacher enter.  (He continued doing so.)
mean:

 I did not mean to scare you off. (I did not intend to scare you off.)
 Taking a new job in the city meant leaving behind her familiar surroundings.  (If she took the job,
she would have to leave behind her familiar surroundings.)
regret:

 We regret to inform you that you have failed your exam.  (polite or formal form of apology)
 I very much regret saying what I said. (I wish that I had not said that.)
try:
When a to-infinitive is used, the subject is shown to make an effort at something, attempt or endeavor
to do something. If a gerund is used, the subject is shown to attempt to do something in testing to see
what might happen.

 Please try to remember to post my letter.

 I have tried being stern, but to no avail.

Gerunds preceded by a genitive

Because of its noun properties, the genitive (possessive case) is preferred for a noun or pronoun
preceding a gerund.

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 We enjoyed their [genitive] singing.
This usage is preferred in formal writing or speaking. The objective case is often used in place of the
possessive, especially in casual situations:

 I do not see it making any difference.

Really, 'I do not see its making any difference' is the correct option.

This may sound awkward in general use, but is still the correct manner in which to converse or write.
And this form of gerund is applicable in all relative cases, for instance:

 He affected my going there.

 He affected your going there.
 He affected his/her/its going there.
 He affected our going there.
 He affected their going there.
This is because the action, of doing or being, belongs, in effect, to the subject/object (direct or indirect)
practising it, thus, the possessive is required to clearly demonstrate that.

In some cases, either the possessive or the objective case may be logical:

 The teacher's shouting startled the student.  (Shouting is a gerund, and teacher's is a

possessive noun. The shouting is the subject of the sentence.)
 The teacher shouting startled the student.  (Shouting is a participle describing the teacher. This
sentence means The teacher who was shouting startled the student.  In this sentence, the subject is
the teacher herself.)
Either of these sentences could mean that the student was startled because the teacher was shouting.

Using the objective case can be awkward if the gerund is singular but the other noun is plural. It can
look like a problem with subject-verb agreement:

 The politicians' debating was interesting.

One might decide to make was plural so that debating can be a participle.

 The politicians debating were interesting.

Gerunds and present participles

Insofar as there is a distinction between gerunds and present participles, it is generally fairly clear
which is which; a gerund or participle that is the subject or object of a preposition is a gerund if it refers
to the performance of an action (but present participles may be used substantively to refer to
the performer of an action), while one that modifies a noun attributively or absolutely is a participle. The

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main source of potential ambiguity is when a gerund-participle follows a verb; in this case, it may be
seen either as a predicate adjective (in which case it is a participle), or as a direct object or predicate
nominative (in either of which cases it is a gerund). In this case, a few transformations can help
distinguish them. In the table that follows, ungrammatical sentences are marked with asterisks, per
common linguistic practice; it should be noted that the transformations all produce grammatical
sentences with similar meanings when applied to sentences with gerunds but either ungrammatical
sentences, or sentences with completely different meanings, when applied to sentences with
participles.

Transformation Gerund use Participle use

(none) John suggested asking Bill. John kept asking Bill.

Passivization Asking Bill was suggested. *Asking Bill was kept.

Pronominal substitution John suggested it. *John kept it.

John suggested the asking of *John kept the asking of

Use as a noun
Bill. Bill.

John suggested that Bill be *John kept that Bill be

Replacement with a finite clause
asked. asked.

John suggested our asking

Use with an objective or possessive subject *John kept his asking Bill.
Bill.

Asking Bill is what John *Asking Bill is what John

Clefting
suggested. kept.

Left dislocation Asking Bill John suggested. *Asking Bill John kept.

Clause

In grammar, a clause is a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate,

although in some languages and some types of clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun

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phrase. It may instead be marked on the verb (this is especially common in null subject languages).
The most basic kind of sentence consists of a single clause. More complicated sentences may contain
multiple clauses, including clauses contained within clauses. Clauses are divided into two
categories: independent clauses and dependent clauses. Independent clauses can be easily
differentiated from dependent clauses by their ability to stand by themselves, even when connected
with different clauses in the same sentence. A sentence made up of just one clause which can stand by
itself is made up of an independent clause. Dependent clauses would be awkward or nonsensical if
they were to stand by themselves, and therefore require an independent clause in the same sentence.

Clauses are often contrasted with phrases. Traditionally, a clause was said to have both a finite
verb and its subject, whereas a phrase either contained a finite verb but not its subject (in which case it
is a verb phrase) or did not contain a finite verb. Hence, in the sentence "I didn't know that the dog ran
through the yard," "that the dog ran through the yard" is a clause, as is the sentence as a whole, while
"the yard," "through the yard," "ran through the yard," and "the dog" are all phrases. However, modern
linguists do not draw the same distinction, as they accept the idea of a non-finite clause, a clause that is
organized around a non-finite verb.

In the following English examples, dependent noun clauses are shown in bold:

 "I imagine that they're having a good time."

 "I keep thinking about what happened yesterday."
(The word that is optional in the first sentence, highlighting a complication in the entire
dependent/independent contrast: "They're having a good time" is a complete sentence, and therefore
an independent clause, but "that they're having a good time" is a dependent clause.)

An adjective clause modifies a noun phrase. In English, adjective clauses typically come at the end of
their phrase and usually have a relative pronoun forming a relative clause. The pronoun can sometimes
be omitted to produce a reduced relative clause:

 "The woman I saw said otherwise."

 "I found the book that she suggested to me."
An adverb clause typically modifies its entire main clause. In English, it usually precedes (in a  periodic
sentence) or follows (in a loose sentence) its main clause. The following adverb clauses show when
(with the subordinating conjunction "when") and why (with the subordinating conjunction "because"):

 "When she gets here, all will be explained."

 "She's worried because they were already an hour late."
The line between categories may be indistinct, and, in some languages, it may be difficult to apply
these classifications at all. At times more than one interpretation is possible, as in the English sentence

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"We saw a movie, after which we went dancing," where "after which we went dancing" can be seen
either as an adjective clause ("We saw a movie. After the movie, we went dancing.") or as an adverb
clause ("We saw a movie. After we saw the movie, we went dancing."). Sometimes the two
interpretations are not synonymous, but are both intended, as in "Let me know when you're ready,"
where "when you're ready" functions both as a noun clause (the object of know, identifying what
knowledge is to be conveyed) and as an adverb clause (specifying when the knowledge is to be
conveyed).

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