Ellipsis Types of Grammatical Cohesion

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2.1.2.3 Ellipsis

In the same cohesive class as substitution, we find ellipsis, or the omission of words, groups or clauses referred to by Halliday as ‘substitution by zero. When we talk of ellipsis, we are not referring to any and every instance in which there is some information that the speaker has to supply from his own evidence. That would apply to practically every sentence that is ever spoken or written, and would be of no help in explaining the nature of a text. We are referring specifically to sentences, clauses, etc whose structure is such as to presuppose some preceding item, which then serves as the source of the missing information. An elliptical item is one which, as it were, leaves specific structural slots to be filled from elsewhere. This is exactly the same as presupposition by substitution, whereas in ellipsis nothing is inserted into the slot. That is why we say that ellipsis can be regarded as substitution by zero. For example, Joan brought some carnations, and Catherine some sweet peas. The structure of the second clause is Subject and Complement. This structure normally appears only in clauses in which at least one element, the Predicator, is presupposed, to be supplied from the preceding clause. Note that there is no possible alternative interpretation here; the second clause can be interpreted only as Catherine brought some sweet peas. Where there is ellipsis, there is a presupposing, in the structure, that something is to be supplied. This is not quite the same thing as saying that we can tell from the structure of an item whether it is elliptical or not. In other words, we can take as a general guide the notion that ellipsis occurs when something that is Universitas Sumatera Utara xxi structurally necessary is left unsaid; there is a sense of incompleteness associated with it. Ellipsis takes place in similar grammatical environments to substitution. Thus, we have nominal, verbal and clausal ellipsis. The grammar of Nominal Ellipsis permits the omission of Head Nouns in a Nominal Group as in example below where two in the final clause means two cucumber sandwiches. ‘Have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ Algernon inspects them and takes two. Verbal ellipsis is common in all short form answers and responses as is exemplified in example below where there are two examples of verbal ellipsis in responses. In both cases the tie is with save you in the first sentence of the verbal exchange. In these instances, it is the lexical verb that is omitted. ‘I’ll help you. I’ll save you.’ ‘You can’t.’ [Ellipsis] ‘I can.’ [Ellipsis] And the other example below illustrates clausal ellipsis; the word don’t stands in place of don’t open the door. Get up quick and open the door. If you don’t, they will break it down.

2.1.2.4 Conjunction