Verb Phrase Ellipsis - Features of Verb Phrase Ellipsis in English

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:

    These, then, will be some of the features of democracy ... it will be, in all likelihood, an agreeable, lawless, particolored commonwealth, dealing with all alike on a footing of equality, whether they be really equal or not.
    Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)

    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)

    It is, after all, very interesting that sound can reflect like water, like a mirror. And notice that Vinteuil’s phrase only shows me that to which I did not pay attention at the time. Of my worries, of my loves at that time, it does not recall a thing, it has made the exchange.
    Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

    I framed to the harp
    Many an English ditty lovely well.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)