I heard Mary's dog, and you heard Bill's dog. - n-ellipsis
If Doris tries my chili, I will try hers chili. - n-ellipsis
The
fact that hers (as opposed to her) must appear in the second sentence
could be interpreted to mean that the modifier that introduces the
ellipsis is actually not an adjective or determiner, but rather it is
a pronoun. Based on this observation, one could argue that N-ellipsis
is in fact not actually a type of ellipsis, but rather the modifier
serves as a pronoun of a sort, which means nothing has been
elided.[1]
[edit]
Comparative
deletion
Comparative
deletion occurs in comparative clauses introduced by than in English.
The expression in the comparative clause is elided that corresponds
to the expression focused by a comparative morph such as more or -er
in the antecedent clause, e.g.
More
people arrived than we expected people would arrive. - Comparative
deletion
She
ordered more beer than we could drink beer. - Comparative deletion
Doris
looks more satisfied than Doreen looks satisfied. - Comparative
deletion
William
has friends in more countries than you have friends in countries. -
Comparative deletion
Comparative
deletion is different from many of the other optional ellipsis
mechanisms insofar as it is obligatory. The non-elliptical versions
of these sentences are unacceptable.
[edit]
Null
complement anaphora
Null
complement anaphora elides a complete complement, whereby the elided
complement is a finite clause, infinitive phrase, or prepositional
phrase. The verbal predicates that can license null complement
anaphora form a limited set (e.g. know, approve, refuse, decide).
Interestingly, the elided complement cannot be a noun phrase.
Q:
Do you know what happened? A:No, I don't know what happened? - Null
complement anaphora
Q:
Do you approve of the plan? A: No, I don't approve of the plan. -
Null complement anaphora
They
told Bill to help, but he refused to help. - Null complement anaphora
They
offered two ways to spend the day, but I couldn't decide between
them. - Null complement anaphora
