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Verb phrase ellipsis

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 .

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Related concepts (8)
Catena (linguistics)
In linguistics, a catena (English pronunciation: kəˈtiːnə, plural catenas or catenae; from Latin for "chain") is a unit of syntax and morphology, closely associated with dependency grammars. It is a more flexible and inclusive unit than the constituent and its proponents therefore consider it to be better suited than the constituent to serve as the fundamental unit of syntactic and morphosyntactic analysis. The catena has served as the basis for the analysis of a number of phenomena of syntax, such as idiosyncratic meaning, ellipsis mechanisms (e.
Gapping
In linguistics, gapping is a type of ellipsis that occurs in the non-initial conjuncts of coordinate structures. Gapping usually elides minimally a finite verb and further any non-finite verbs that are present. This material is "gapped" from the non-initial conjuncts of a coordinate structure. Gapping exists in many languages, but by no means in all of them, and gapping has been studied extensively and is therefore one of the more understood ellipsis mechanisms.
Ellipsis (linguistics)
In linguistics, ellipsis (from ἔλλειψις, élleipsis 'omission') or an elliptical construction is the omission from a clause of one or more words that are nevertheless understood in the context of the remaining elements. There are numerous distinct types of ellipsis acknowledged in theoretical syntax. Theoretical accounts of ellipsis seek to explain its syntactic and semantic factors, the means by which the elided elements are recovered, and the status of the elided elements.
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