{"id":73832,"date":"2020-04-06T10:38:08","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T10:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/?p=73832"},"modified":"2020-04-06T10:38:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T10:38:08","slug":"cases-where-we-leave-out-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/cases-where-we-leave-out-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Cases Where We Leave Out Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

We often leave out words to avoid repetition. Words are also left out in cases where the meaning can be understood without them. This is called\u00a0\u2018ellipsis\u2019<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Replies<\/b><\/h3>\n

In replies we do not usually repeat information that has just been given.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \u2018Who broke the window?\u2019 \u2018John.\u2019 (More natural than \u2018John broke the window\u2019)<\/li>\n
  • \u2018What time does her train arrive?\u2019 \u2018About six.\u2019 (More natural than \u2018Her train arrives at about six.\u2019)<\/li>\n
  • \u2018How many eggs do you need?\u2019 \u2018Six.\u2019 (More natural than \u2018I need six eggs.\u2019)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Structures with and, but and or<\/b><\/h3>\n

    Repeated words are often left out in co-ordinate structures.<\/p>\n

      \n
    • The rope was thin\u00a0but<\/b>\u00a0strong. (= The rope was thin but it was strong.)<\/li>\n
    • You can have tea\u00a0or<\/b>\u00a0coffee. (= You can have tea or you can have coffee.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Informal speech<\/b><\/h3>\n

      In informal speech, we often drop unstressed words at the beginning of a clause.<\/p>\n

        \n
      • \u2018Seen Mary?\u2019 (= Have you seen Mary?\u2019)<\/li>\n
      • Doesn\u2019t know what she is doing. (= She doesn\u2019t know what she is doing.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        At the end of noun phrases<\/b><\/h3>\n

        In some cases it is possible to drop nouns after adjectives, noun modifiers and determiners.<\/p>\n

          \n
        • \u2018My car isn\u2019t working.\u2019 \u2018I will have to borrow\u00a0John\u2019s<\/b>. (= John\u2019s car)<\/li>\n
        • \u2018Do you want brown rice?\u2019 \u2018No, I will have\u00a0white.<\/b>\u2019 (= white rice)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Infinitives<\/b><\/h3>\n

          Sometimes we use\u00a0to<\/b>\u00a0instead of repeating a whole infinitive.<\/p>\n

            \n
          • \u2018Are you and John getting married?\u2019 \u2018We hope\u00a0to.<\/b>\u2019 (= We hope to get married.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            In comparative structures<\/b><\/h3>\n

            Words are often left out after\u00a0as<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0than<\/b>, when the meaning is clear.<\/p>\n

              \n
            • I don\u2019t earn as much\u00a0as you.<\/b>\u00a0(= \u2026as you do.)<\/li>\n
            • Sales aren\u2019t as good\u00a0as last year<\/b>. (= Sales aren\u2019t as good as they were last year.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              Question word clauses<\/b><\/h3>\n

              Clauses can be dropped after question words.<\/p>\n

                \n
              • \u2018Somebody has broken my window again, but I don\u2019t know\u00a0who.<\/b>\u2019 ( = \u2026 but I don\u2019t know who has broken my window again.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                That and relative pronouns<\/b><\/h3>\n

                In an informal style, the conjunction\u00a0that<\/b>\u00a0is often dropped.<\/p>\n

                  \n
                • She said she would come. OR She said\u00a0that\u00a0<\/b>she would come.<\/li>\n
                • I knew he was cheating on me. OR I knew\u00a0that\u00a0<\/b>he was cheating on me.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  We often leave out words to avoid repetition. Words are also left out in cases where the meaning can be understood without them. This is called\u00a0\u2018ellipsis\u2019. Replies In replies we do not usually repeat...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[2545,741,2547,2546],"class_list":["post-73832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar","tag-ellipsis","tag-english-writing-tips","tag-grammar","tag-when-to-leave-out-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73833,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73832\/revisions\/73833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}