Eliptical Sentence

ELLIPTICAL SENTENCE

            Elliptical sentence is combination of two sentences which have different subject but they have same predicate. The elliptical sentence is used to reduce words repetition.

1)      So and Too

So and Too are used when we combine two affirmative sentences.

Formula:

a)      S₁ + v + O, and + S₂ + auxiliary verb + too

e.g.: Buffaloes eat grass         

Cows eat grass

=>  Buffaloes eat grass, and cows do too.

b)      S₁ + v + O, and + so + auxiliary verb + S₂

e.g.: Allen is a troublemaker              

Steven is a troublemaker

=>  Allen is a troublemaker, and so is Steven

2)      Either and Neither

If two sentences are negative sentences, we combine them by using “either” or “neither”.

Formula:

a)      S₁ + v + O , and + S₂ + auxiliary verb + not + either

e.g.: Jason wasn’t sick yesterday                   

Liam wasn’t sick yesterday                  

=>  Jason wasn’t sick yesterday, and Liam was not either

b)      S₁ + v + O, and + neither + auxiliary verb + S₂

e.g.: I don’t like hunting                    

Simon doesn’t like hunting

=>  I don’t like hunting, and neither does Simon

3)      But

We use “but” when we combine two different form of sentence (one is affirmative, while another is negative)

Formula:

a)      S₁ + v + O, but + S₂ + auxiliary verb + not

e.g.: She walks to campus everyday                      

Jake doesn’t walk to campus everyday          

=>  She walks to campus every day, but Jake does not

b)      S₁ + v + O, but + S₂ + auxiliary verb

e.g.: He didn’t pass the exam last week        

I passed the exam.                                  

=> He didn’t pass the exam last week, But I did

Note:

• If the first clause (sentence) is positive, we put “not” after the aux. verb in the second clause
• We don’t need to put “not” in the sentence if the first clause is a negative clause.