The essential characteristic of ellipsis is something that is present in the selection of underlying (systematic) option that omitted in the structure. According to Halliday and Hasan (1976: 143), ellipsis can be regarded as substitution by zero. It is divided into three kinds, namely nominal ellipsis, verbal ellipsis, and clausal ellipsis.
1) Nominal Ellipsis
Nominal ellipsis means the ellipsis within the nominal group or the common noun that may be omitted and the function of head taken on by one of other elements (deictic, numerative, epithet or classifier). The deictic is normally a determiner, the numerative is a numeral or other quantifier, the epithet is an adjective and the classifier is a noun. According to Hassan and Halliday, this is more frequently a deictic or a numeral than epithet or classifier. The most characteristic instances of ellipsis, therefore are those with deictic or numerative as head.
a) Deictic as head
(1) Specific Deictic
The specific deictic are demonstrative, possessive and the. The demonstratives are this, that, these, those, and which. Possessives include both noun (Smith’s, my father’s, etc.) and pronoun (my, your, etc.). The latter have a special form when functioning as head: mine, ours, yours, his, hers, theirs, whose, and (rarely) its. For example:
Take these pills three times daily. And you’d better have some more of those too (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 157).
Pills, functioning as head, is omitted and is replaced by demonstrative modifier those. The full form of the sentence is Take these pills three times daily. And you’d better have some more of those pills too.
(2) Non-specific deictic
The non-specific deictics are each, every, any, either, no, neither, a and some as well as both. For example:
(a) Smith and Jones are on Holiday. I wonder if either has left an address.
(b) These apples are delicious. Let’s by some. (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 158).
In the second sentence of example (a), the word Smith and Jones are omitted and replaced by either. Hence in the second sentence of example (b), the phrase these apples is ommited and replaced by the word some. Hence, the full forms of those sentence are (a) Smith and Jones are on holiday. I wonder if either Smith or Jones has left an address. (b) These apples are delicious. Let’s buy some apples.
(3) Post-deictic
The word functioning as post-deictic elements in the nominal group are adjectives. There are thirty or forty adjectives used commonly in deictic function and a number of others used occasionally in this way; the frequent ones include other, same, different, identical, usual, regular, certain, odd, famous, well-known, typical, obvious. They combine with the, a or other determiner (the combination of a + other written and pronounced as one word another); and they may be followed by a numeral, unlike adjectives in their normal function as epithet which must follow any numerative element, for example I’ve used up these three yellow folders you gave me. Can I use the other? (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 160). The elliptical nominal group is signed by combination post-deictic other and specific deictic the. The full form of the sentence is I’ve used up these three yellow folder you gave me. Can I use the other three yellow folder?
b) Numeral as Head
Of the element occuring after the deictic in the nominal group, only the numeral and certain types of epithet function at all regularly as the head in ellipsis. The numerative element in the nominal group is expressed by numerals or other quantifying words, which form three subcategories: ordinals, cardinals, and indefinite quantifiers (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 161).
(1) Ordinal Numeral
The ordinal numerals are first, next, last, second, third, fourth, etc. They are often used elliptically, generally with the or a possessive as deictic, for example Have another chocolate. – No, thanks; that was my third (Halliday and Hassan, 1976: 161). The nominal elliptical group my third is specific deictic of possessive pronoun my and ordinal third. The full form of the sentence becomes Have another chocolate. – No, thanks; that was my third chocolate.
(2) Cardinal Numeral
Cardinal numerals are also frequent in ellipsis, and may be preceded by any deictic and also by post deictic adjectives such as the usual three, the same three. For example Have another chocolate. – No, thanks; I’ve had may three. The nominal elliptical group my three is specific deictic possessive my and cardinal numeral three. The full form of the sentence is Have another chocolate. – No, thanks; I’ve had my three chocolate.
(3) Indefinite Quantifiers
The indefinite quantifiers are items such as much, many, most, few, several, a little, lots, a bit, hundreds, etc. In the utterance Can all cats climb trees? – they all can; and most do, the indefinite quantifier, most, presupposes cats.
c) Epithet as Head
The function of epithet is typically fulfilled by an adjective that is superlative and comparative form.
(1) Superlative Adjectives
The superlative adjective precedes other epithet and is usually accompanied by the or a possessive deictic. For example:
(a) Apple are the cheapest in autumn.
(b) Apple are cheapest in autumn. (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 164).
In example (a) the cheapest is an elliptical group presupposing fruit. Example (b) is not elliptical. Fruit ellipted is as head and replaced by the cheapest.
(2) Comparative Adjective
Comparative adjective are inherently presupposing by reference, for examples, (a) Mary is the cleverer; (b) Mary is cleverer (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 165). Example (a) is comparative ellipsis since it is presupposing by reference whereas (b) is not elliptical comparative.
2) Verbal Ellipsis
An elliptical verbal group presupposes one or more words from a previous verbal group. Technically, it is defined as a verbal group whose structure does not fully express its systematic feature. Example:
a) Have you been swimming? – Yes, I have.
b) What have you been doing? – Swimming (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 167)
The two verbal groups in the answers have (in yes I have) in (a) and swimming in (b), are both the instances of verbal ellipsis. Both stand for ‘have been swimming’, and there is no possibility of ‘filling out’ with any other items. The example (b) could be interpreted only as I have been swimming and it could, furthermore, be replaced by I have been swimming, since as in all types of ellipsis, the full form and the elliptical one are both possible. There are two types of verbal ellipsis namely lexical and operator ellipsis.
a) Lexical Ellipsis
Lexical ellipsis is the type of ellipsis in which the lexical verb is missing from the verbal group. All the modal operators (can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must, ought to, and is to) are alike in that one of them can function as a lexical verb. For example: Is John going to come? – He might. He was to. – He should, if he wants his name to be considered (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 170). Here might, was to, may not and should are all elliptical verbal groups consisting of modal operator. Each one of them could be filled out by the lexical verb come. Question tag form is also example of lexical ellipsis. For example is John couldn’t been going to be consulted, could he?.
b) Operator Ellipsis
Operator ellipsis is the type of ellipsis which involves only the omission of operators: the lexical verb always remain intact. In operator ellipsis the subject is always omitted from the clause. Look at the examples below:
(1) They might or might not have objected.
(2) Has she been crying? – No, laughing.
(3) What have you been doing? – Being chased by a bull. (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 175).
The full forms of these sentences are (1) They might or they might not have objected. (2) Has she been crying? – No, she has not been crying, but she has been laughing. (3) What have you been doing? – I have been being chased by a bull.
3) Clausal Ellipsis
Clause in English, considered as the expression of the the various speech functions, such as statement, question, response and so on, has a two-part structure consisting of modal element plus propositional element. For example:
The Duke was going to plant a row of poplars in the park.
(Modal element) (Prepositional element)
(Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 197)
Halliday and Hasan also say that the principle of clausal ellipsis is general to all types of questions (1976: 211).
a) Modal Ellipsis
The modal element consist of the subject plus the finite element in the verbal group, for example, What was the Duke going to do? – Plant a row of poplars in the park (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 197). In the answer, the modal element (the subject and the finite operator was) is omitted, hence there is operator ellipsis. The sentence should be What was the Duke going to do? – The Duke was going to plant a row of poplars in the park.
b) Propositional Ellipsis
The propositional element consist of the residu: the remainder of the verbal group, and any complements or adjuncts that may be present, for example, Who was going to plant a row of poplars in the park? – The Duke was (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 198). Here there is omission of the complement and the adjunct, and, within the verbal group, of the lexical verb plant: so we have lexical ellipsis in the verbal group. Hence the sentence should be Who was going to plant a row of poplars in the park? – The Duke was going to plant a row of poplar in the park.
c) Yes/ no Question Ellipsis
Answer to yes/ no questions or polar questions are very simply dealt with the instruction to answer yes or no. They do not mean ‘you are right’ and ‘you are wrong’. But, they mean the answer is positive and the answer is negative.
Table 2.8 Yes/ No Question Ellipsis
| Question | Answer, Positive | Answer, negative |
| a. Are you coming? | Yes (I am) | No (I am not) |
| b. Aren’t you coming? | Yes (I am) | No (I am not) |
(Halliday and Hasan, 1979: 209)
d) WH – Ellipsis
(1) What did I hit? – A root.
(2) Who killed Cock Robin? – The dparrow.
(3) How’s the patient? – comfortable. (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 210)
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BalasHapus