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Grammar 362

English 362: More from Chapter 4: Ellipsis

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In addition to the sentence types we are learning about, Chapter 4 introduces the term ellipsis.

Ellipsis: refers to the omission of a word or words that can be supplied.

Although ellipsis rarely occurs in simple declarative sentences, they are much more likely to appear in more complex sentences.

Example 1–

  • The ninja latched his grappling hook onto the window sill, hauled himself up, and entered the Hokage’s private office.

There are three verbs in this sentence (latched, hauled, and entered) assigned to only one subject (The ninja). Intuitively, we know that the all the verbs are predicating “the ninja”, and it is not necessary to include “the ninja” before each verb. That omission is an example of an ellipsis.

Example 2–

  • Merry and Pippin stole, unwrapped, and launched the fireworks.

Here “Merry and Pippin” and “the fireworks”  undergo ellipsis. There is no need to say “Merry and Pippin stole the fireworks, Merry and Pippen unwrapped the fireworks, and Merry and Pippin launched the fireworks.”

Ellipsis in Imperatives

The understood subject or addressee of imperative sentences can also be seen as an instance of ellipsis.

Example–

  • Give me my precious!

instead of….

  • (You) give me my precious!

-The understood subject of “you” is the instance of ellipsis

 

Diagramming, Grammar 362

English 362: Glorious Diagrams!

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Hello PWP students!

We’ve reached chapter 3 in Hopper’s textbook and been introduced to the basics of the great emblem of this grammar course, the Diagram. In addition to being a main focal point in the class, diagrams can be extremely confusing!

Here is a recap on important basics to understanding diagrams:

First of all, remember the definition of phrase. This is important since it’s phrases that we will be diagramming.

Phrase: this term refers to a set of words that belong together because they function as a grammatical unit (eg., “the hot rod” is the unit of a noun phrase)

In a diagram, a phrase has two aspects that are identified: Form and Function (hence, it is called a “form-function diagram”)

Forms: labels for categories like “verb”, “noun”, “adjective”; and labels for phrases like “Noun Phrase” and “Predicate Phrase”

-Forms are represented in the top “tree” part of the diagram

Functions: (what the phrase is doing in the sentence, or the purpose that it serves) labels such as “Subject”, “Predicate”, “Modifier”, “Determiner”, etc.

-Functions are represented in the underlined section of the diagram, underneath the sentence.

Every sentence that we will be working with is made up of two basic phrases: The Noun Phrase (NP) and the Predicate Phrase (PredPhr).  When you diagram a sentence, after you start the tree diagram by labeling the sentence with the overarching “S” form label,  the NP and PredPhr are the first two phrases that you will identify. Identify their forms (NP and PredPhr), and then identify their functions (Subject and Predicate). (See p. 48 of Hopper’s textbook)

Example Sentence:

The hot rod whizzed down the street.

   Two basic phrases of sentence:

“The hot rod” And “whizzed down the street”

   – Forms:

“the hot rod” = NP

“whizzed down the street” = PredPhr

– Functions:

     NP function (the hot rod) = Subject

PredPhr function (whizzed down the street) = Predicate

 

See chapter 3 for visuals of this diagramming process. Understanding the basic form-function categories of NP and PredPhr is just the beginning before we dissect each of those phrases down to every single word’s form and function. Keep up the good practice! If you have any questions or simply want someone to practice with, please stop by Laurentide and see either Cheyenne or Olivia (that’s me:)