In an essay introducing a series on logical fallacies that I ran in the Forum sometime ago, I wrote: “That series was specifically meant for the 2004 national elections, so I am presenting it here in an updated and modified form to suit current political realities. From the language standpoint, of course,
the situation then and now are largely the same.”
A Filipino who tutors foreign students in San Francisco, California, read my introductory essay and was unsure whether the grammar of the second sentence above is correct. He therefore e-mailed his sister, Filipino writer Isabel Escoda who was then based in Hong Kong, and asked: “Are you comfortable with that sentence?” To which Isabel replied: “I’m sure that sentence must be a typo error—though “then and now” probably calls for a plural verb. Good point, I must ask him.”
Isabel then e-mailed me about this exchange with her brother, and I would like to share with readers my reply to her:
I now realize that this particular sentence indeed could make some people uncomfortable: “From the language standpoint, of course,
the situation then and now are largely the same.”
Semantically, two situations are referred to in that sentence—
the situation before, and
the situation now. They are two distinct and separate entities. The scrupulously grammatical way to write that sentence is, of course, this: “From the language standpoint, of course,
the situation then and the situation now are largely the same.” Two nouns are compounded into a plural subject, so they require the plural form of the verb. (It’s not the adverbs “then” and “now” being compounded but the two “situations” as distinct entities.)
The more concise sentence construction is an
elliptical version of that sentence. It deliberately drops the second use of the term “the situation” on the presumption that it’s already understood to be there and needs no repetition; the reader, presumed to be conversant with English, is expected to just supply the missing words mentally. Indeed, elliptical constructions are used by professional writers to make sentences streamlined and easier to articulate.
Elliptical sentence constructions use the
ellipsis, which is the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a sentence construction grammatically complete. The most common forms of the ellipsis are these: (1) the omission of “that” in modifying clauses, (2) the elliptical noun phrase, (3) the ellipsis of the verb and its objects and complements, (4) the medial ellipsis, and (5) the ellipsis of clause.
Here are examples of each of the five forms to show how the ellipsis works:
1. Omission of “that” in modifying clauses. Normal: “They knew that two years would be the shortest time that they would need to subdue the enemy forces.”
Elliptical: “They knew (…) two years would be the shortest time (…) they would need to subdue the enemy forces.”
2. Elliptical noun phrase. Normal: “Jennifer asked for the pink blouse but the salesclerk gave her the red blouse.”
Elliptical: “Jennifer asked for the pink blouse but the salesclerk gave her the red (…).”
3. Ellipsis of the verb and its objects and complements. Normal: “The beleaguered Supreme Court chief justice will fight it to the very end if he could fight it to the very end.”
Elliptical: “The beleaguered Supreme Court chief justice will fight it to the very end if he could (…).”
4. Medial ellipsis. Normal: “Arlene will take care of the girls and Eduardo will take care of the boys.”
Elliptical: “Arlene will take care of the girls and Eduardo (…), the boys.”
5. Ellipsis of clause. Normal: “They can leave now if they want to leave now.”
Elliptical: “They can leave now if they want (…).”
It takes some practice to get the hang of elliptical usage, but once you do, a sentence can sound better and more idiomatic than normal usage. It becomes more professional sounding, too!
This essay first appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the February 27, 2010 issue of The Manila Times
, © 2010 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
