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Concept
Verb phrase ellipsis
Summary
In linguistics, verb phrase ellipsis (VP-ellipsis or VPE) is a type of elliptical construction and a type of anaphora in which a verb phrase has been left out (elided) provided that its antecedent can be found within the same linguistic context. For example, "She will sell sea shells, and he will too" is understood as "She will sell sea shells, and he will sell sea shells too". VP-ellipsis is well-studied, particularly with regard to its occurrence in English, although certain types can be found in other languages as well.
With English grammar, VP 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, strikethrough represents that the material has been moved, the antecedent to the ellipsis is bolded, and asterisk (*) signals an ungrammatical sentence:
(1a) You might do it, but I won't .
(1b) *You might do it, but I .
(2a) She will not laugh, but he will .
(2b) *She will not laugh, but he .
(3a) Susan has been cheating, and Fred has too.
(3b) *Susan has been cheating, and Fred too.
(4a) Larry is not telling the truth, neither is Jim .
(4b) *Larry is not telling the truth, neither Jim .
Attempts at VP ellipsis that lack an auxiliary verb fail, unless the infinitive particle to is retained:
(6a) Sam wants to eat, and Fred wants to also.
(6b) *Sam wants to eat, and Fred wants also.
(7a) Josh likes to sleep late, and Hillary likes to also.
(7b) *Josh likes to sleep late, and Hillary likes also.
A particularly frequent construction in which VP ellipsis (obligatorily) occurs is in tag questions:
(8a) Jeremy likes beer, doesn't he ?
(8b) Susan will write the paper, won't she ?
Apparent exceptions to the restriction that VP ellipsis can only occur in the context of an auxiliary verb or infinitive particle are analyzed as instances of null complement anaphora:
(9) Question: Did you refuse to be promoted?
Answer: Yes, I refused .
Official source
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