2.10 Grammatical cohesion
2.10.4 Ellipsis
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however no substitute for interrogative or imperative structures such as indirect questions and commands, and therefore no clause substitutes occur for verbs such as: ‘wonder’
‘order’ or ‘ask’. However, there is substitution of elements in the initial position of expressions, and so the substitute has the effect of making ‘so’ to be in the thematic position in the clause. The second context for clausal substitution is that of conditional structure. Conditional clauses are often substituted by ‘so’ and ‘not’; like in expressions such as: ‘if not’, ‘assuming so’ and ‘supposed not’, that signal conditional statement.
In addition, modal clauses are also substituted; this is a situation in which ‘so’ and
‘not’ elements are used as substitutes to replace clauses expressing modality. Modality herein refers to the speaker’s assessment of probabilities inherent in the situation which demonstrate recognition of rights and duties in expressions using either the modal forms of the verb such as: ‘will’, ‘would’, ‘can’, ‘could’, ‘may’, ‘might’, ‘must’, ‘probably’,
‘certainly’, and ‘surely’, which are frequently followed by a clausal substitute ‘so’ or
‘not’ depending on the modality. With specifications already noted, expressions demonstrating certainty do not accept any substitution in the positive, though they do in the negative.
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2.10.4.1 Nominal ellipsis
This category of elliptical occurrence refers to an omission within the nominal group or the omission of the common noun whose functions as the head of such a group is taken over by one of the other elements in the grouping. These elements that assume the nominal position in place of the noun are classified into four categories; as deictic (which is normally a determiner), the numerative (the numeral or other quantifier), the epithet (adjectives), and the classifier (a noun). Nominal ellipsis is said to be more frequently deictic and as a numeral than as an epithet or as a classifier. Apparently, the most characteristic instances of nominal ellipsis therefore are those with deictic or numerative as the head of the group. An explanation of how these categories operate in structures is provided below.
2.10.4.1.1 Deictic as nominal
Deictic is said to operate as the head of a nominal elliptical construction occurring either as specific or non-specific deictic. This classification is based on the mode of significations that arise when the deictic assumes the head-position in the nominal group.
The specific deictic that forms the nominal ellipsis include demonstratives, possessives, and the definite article ‘the’. Demonstratives, on the other hand, include items such as:
‘this’/ ‘that’/ ‘‘these’/ ‘those’ and ‘which’ as the head word of the group. Furthermore, deictic are considered as possessives, which include both nouns and pronouns that occupy the nominal position in structure. According to Halliday and Hasan (1976:157), possessive pronouns, when functioning as head of the nominal group, change in form.
For example, the possessive pronouns such as: ‘my’, ‘our’, ‘your’, ‘her’ becomes ‘mine’,
‘ours’, ‘yours’, ‘hers’, though ‘its’ is rarely used.
Furthermore, non-specific deictic includes elements like: ‘each’, ‘every’, ‘any’,
‘either’, ‘no’, ‘neither’, ‘some’ as well as ‘both’ and the indefinite article ‘a’ which are used in the nominal position. As the name implies, these categories are non-specific in their demonstrative function of being non-definite in identification of the subjective component of the structure.
It is argued further that the words functioning as post-deictic elements in the nominal group are mostly adjectives. Consequently, up to forty adjectives are identified as commonly performing post-deictic function. These post-deictic elements include:
‘other’, ‘same’, ‘different’, ‘identical’, ‘usual’, ‘regular’, ‘certain’, ‘odd’, ‘famous’, ‘well-known’, ‘typical’, and ‘obvious’, among other words. These items often combine with
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articles like ‘the’, ‘a’, and other determiners, which unlike adjectives are at some given instances, and followed by a numeral and function as the epithet that precedes any numerative element. Halliday and Hasan (1976:160) demonstrate this grammatical structure with the following example: ‘I’ve used up these three yellow folders you gave me. Can I use the other?’ In the illustration, the adjective: ‘the other’, is made up of a post-deictic element ‘other’ and the specific deictic ‘the’ in the second clause is an elliptical sum in reference to the nominal group in the first structure: ‘these yellow folders’.
2.10.4.1. 2 Numerals as nominal
This refers to the use of numerals such as ordinals, cardinals, and indefinite quantifiers as head of nominal groups. The ordinal numerals include referential items such as: ‘first’, ‘next’, ‘last’, ‘second’, ‘fifth’, ‘fourth’ and others in this category. These items, in combination with the article ‘the’ or possessive as deictic, often occur in elliptical constructions. In a similar situation, cardinal numerals proceeded by deictic or post deictic adjectives also function in elliptical constructions. On the other hand, indefinite quantifiers such as ‘much’, ‘many’, ‘most’, ‘few’, ‘several’, ‘a little’, and
‘lots’, which operate as referential items in the nominal ellipsis.
2.10.4.1.3 Epithets as nominal
The function of epithet in elliptical group is typically fulfilled by an adjective that is either superlative or comparative. A superlative adjective precedes other epithet and is usually accompanied by the article ‘‘the’’ or a possessive epithet.
The comparative adjective, which functions as an epithet in the elliptical group, is presupposed by setting up a contrastive reference. This implies that the adjective that functions as a comparative agent in the elliptical group rather contrasts the nominal in the subject position with the other elements in the structure. As demonstrated by Halliday and Hasan (1976: 165) in the following sentences: (a) ‘Mary is the cleverer’, and (b)
‘Mary is clever’; to illustrate that, while sentence (a) is an elliptical construction sentence (b) is not. This distinction has arisen due to the fact that, while the combination of the definite article ‘the’ and the comparative adjective ‘cleverer’ contrasts the nominal,
‘Mary’, with other unmentioned elements, sentence (b) does not compare but simply states the fact that the nominal: ‘Mary is clever’; presupposes null element.
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2.10.4.2 Verbal Ellipsis
Verbal ellipsis, which is also called operator ellipsis, refers to either a situation in which, a verbal group does not contain any lexical verb; a grammatical condition in which all modal operators such as: ‘can’, ‘could’, ‘will’, ‘would’, ‘shall’, ‘should’, ‘may’,
‘might’, ‘must’, ‘ought to’, and ‘is to’ are considered as being alike in the sense that none of them can operate as a lexical verb.
Similarly, the subject in operator ellipsis is always omitted from the clause it presupposes. And when it occurs across sentences, it is found mainly in closely bonded sequences such as questions and answers; in which the lexical verb either supplies the answer to ‘do what?’ or repudiates the verb in the question, as in – Has she been crying?
– No, laughing. With operator ellipsis everything is presupposed except the lexical verb;
that is to say that the entire selection within the system of tense, voice, polarity; and all the other words except the last ones are omitted. Operator ellipsis is fairly easy to be recognised though there are however two sources of uncertainty, and these have to be resolved by reference to the surrounding text.
Furthermore, in operator ellipsis, there is an omission of the modal block, the subject and the finite verb, while in lexical ellipsis nothing is left out of the modal block;
so that the mood of the clause is fully explicit. Apparently, though the finiteness reflected in the verbal group with lexical ellipsis is always expressed so that the question of its presupposition from an earlier group does not arise. Therefore, verbal ellipsis refers to an omission of the related clause elements; those that are in the same part of the clause as the relevant portion of the verbal group.
2.10.4.3 Clausal ellipsis
The clause is considered as an expression of the various speech functions such as statement, question, and response, which have a two-part structure consisting of modal and prepositional elements. The following example illustrates this argument:
Modal element (plus) prepositional element
The Duke was + going to plant row of poplars in the park (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 197)
In the above example the structure is divided into two constituent units consisting of the modal and prepositional element. The first segment, the modal element, houses the nominal: ‘The Duke’ and finite element of the verbal group ‘was’, the prepositional
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element, on the other hand, consists of the remaining part of the verbal group: ‘going to’, and the adjunct: ‘plant a row of poplars in the park’. Apparently, based on the above premise therefore, clausal ellipsis operates in the realm of both modal and prepositional contraction. The Modal element embraces the speech function of the clause, which consists of the subject plus the finite element in the verbal group. Halliday and Hasan (1976:197) demonstrate how clausal ellipsis operates between the modal and prepositional contractions in the following expressions:
(a) What was the Duke going to do? (b) Plant a row of poplars in the park.
In response to question/structure provided in (a), the modal element, the subject (The Duke) and the finite operator (was) are omitted in the response/structure (b), giving rise to operator ellipsis. Without ellipsis of the modal element and the finite operator, the response in sentence (b) would have been: (a) What was the Duke going to do? – (b) The Duke was going to plant a row of poplars in the park. It is obvious therefore that the finiteness that goes in the modal block is fused with the remainder of the verb; as in simple past and present tenses such as: planted, plant(s).
Prepositional ellipsis, according to Halliday and Hasan (1976: 198), consists of the residue; the remainder of the verbal group and any other complement or adjunct that may be present. For example, in the structure illustrated above: ‘Who was going to plant a row of poplars in the park? – The Duke was’. There is elision of the complement: ‘going to plant’, and the adjunct: ‘a row of poplars in the park’. A complete and non-elliptical response should have been: Who was going to plant a row of poplars in the park? – The Duke was going to plant a row of poplars in the park.
These elliptical situations, which are anaphorically inclined in nature, are exploited as referential properties by writers to scheme the various aspects of information in the networks of the narrative structure of their recreations of socio-cultural realities.