Features of Verb Phrase Ellipsis in English
In the types of VP-ellipsis considered here, which are features of English grammar, the elided VP must be a non-finite VP; it cannot be a finite VP. Further, the ellipsis must be introduced by an auxiliary verb (be, can, do, don't, could, have, may, might, shall, should, will, won't, would, etc.) or by the infinitive particle to. In the examples below, the elided material of VP-ellipsis is indicated using subscripts and a smaller font and the antecedent to the ellipsis is bolded:
-
- You might do it, but I won't .
-
- She won't laugh, but he will .
-
- Susan has been cheating, and Fred has too.
-
- Larry is not telling the truth, neither is Jim .
Attempts at VP-ellipsis that lack an auxiliary verb fail, unless the infinitive particle to is retained:
-
- a. *Sam wants to eat, and Fred wants as well. (* indicates that the sentence is ungrammatical)
- b. Sam wants to eat, and Fred wants to as well.
-
- a. *Josh likes to sleep late, and Hillary likes as well.
- b. Josh likes to sleep late, and Hillary likes to as well.
Apparent exceptions to this restriction on VP-ellipsis may be instances of null complement anaphora, e.g. ?Bill tried to leave, and Jim tried too.
A particularly frequent construction in which VP-ellipsis (obligatorily) occurs is the tag question:
-
- Jeremy likes beer, doesn't he ?
- Susan will write the paper, won't she .
Read more about this topic: Verb Phrase Ellipsis
Famous quotes containing the words features of, features, verb, phrase and/or english:
“Each reader discovers for himself that, with respect to the simpler features of nature, succeeding poets have done little else than copy his similes.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event—in the living act, the undoubted deed—there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask!”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“The word is the Verb, and the Verb is God.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“Many people will say to working mothers, in effect, “I don’t think you can have it all.” The phrase for “have it all” is code for “have your cake and eat it too.” What these people really mean is that achievement in the workplace has always come at a price—usually a significant personal price; conversely, women who stayed home with their children were seen as having sacrificed a great deal of their own ambition for their families.”
—Anne C. Weisberg (20th century)
“His character as one of the fathers of the English language would alone make his works important, even those which have little poetical merit. He was as simple as Wordsworth in preferring his homely but vigorous Saxon tongue, when it was neglected by the court, and had not yet attained to the dignity of a literature, and rendered a similar service to his country to that which Dante rendered to Italy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)