In the above example, the use of ones is a nominal substitution and it replaces bullets in bullets made of platinum.
2 Verbal Substitution do
The verb or a verbal group could be replaced by another verb which is do
. It is usually placed at the end of the group.
47
For example: I don’t know the meaning of half those long words, and, what’s more, I
don’t believe you do either
Do in that sentence substitutes for know the meaning of half those long words.
3 Clausal Substitution so, not
Clausal substitution means where a clause could be usually substituted by so
or not. It is the other types of substitution in which what is presupposed is an entire clause.
48
For example: He would come if he said so.
In the example, the word so substitutes for he would come.
49
c. Ellipsis
Ellipsis is like substitution, it is a relationship consisting of particular form of wording, either a clause or some smaller item.
50
However, ellipsis involves deleting information that get back from some previous context rather
than replacing the information with a word.
51
In other word, Halliday and Hasan argue that ellipsis can be interpreted as substitution without a substitute or simply
called as ‘substitution by zero.’
52
Briefly, the writer concludes that ellipsis is an omitting word that is able to give the meaning back. It could be used to create the
cohesion in a text.
47
Ibid., p. 112.
48
Ibid., p. 130.
49
Ibid., p. 141.
50
Halliday and Matthiessen, op. cit., p. 536.
51
Meyer, op. cit., pp. 104-105.
52
Halliday and Hasan, op. cit., p. 142.
Like substitution, ellipsis also has three types; they are nominal ellipsis, verbal ellipsis, and clausal ellipsis.
53
1 Nominal ellipsis
Nominal ellipsis is an ellipsis within the nominal group. For example: “Which hat will you wear? This is the best.”
In this case, hat as the common noun representing the thing that is omitted.
54
The original sentence should be ‘which hat will you wear? This is the best hat’.
Halliday and Hasan state in their book “Cohesion in English” that nominal ellipsis consists of the elements Deictic, Numerative, and Epithet. The
Deictic is normally a determiner, the Numerative is a numeral or other quantifier,
and the Epithet is an adjective.
55
1. Deictic. The word functioning as Deictic is normally the class of determiner. Deictic forms a relationship between determiners
demonstrative, possessive, indefinite determiners and related categories each, every, all, both, any, either, no, neither, some, a. The example is:
“The men got back at midnight. Both were tired out.” The word both functions elliptically. It refers back to two men. The word
ellipsis here is men.
56
2. Numerative. Numerative element in the nominal group is showed by a numeral or other quantifying words which form three subcategories:
ordinal first, next, last, second, third, etc, cardinal one, two, three, four, five, etc, and indefinite quantifier many, much, more, most, few, several,
a little, lots, a bit, hundreds, etc. Cardinal numerals which are also frequent in ellipsis, can be preceded by any Deictic that is appropriate in
number, such as the seven, these three, any five, all seven etc.
57
3. Epithet. The function of Epithet is expressed by an adjective. For example: “Apples are the cheapest in autumn.”
53
Ibid., p. 146.
54
Ibid., p. 149.
55
Ibid., p. 147.
56
Ibid., p. 155.
57
Ibid., pp. 161-162.
