Sabtu, 11 Oktober 2014

Identifying and Analyzing Substitution and Ellipsis In Texts



Substitution is the replacement of one item by another

Examples: 1.    John bought a new white shirt yesterday.
                        I bought the same.
2.   I don’t know the meaning of half those long words, and, what’s more, I don’t believe you do either.

Notes:       1.    The word ‘do’ in sentence 1 is as substitute for the phrase ‘a new white shirt’.
 2.   The word ‘do’ in sentence 2 replaces ‘know the meaning of half those long words’.

Substitution is as follows:
a)      INDEFINITE PRONOUNS à one(s), some, any, either, neither, few/fewer/fewest, many/more/most, (a) little/less/least, much/more/most, several, enough, each, all, half, both, other(s), another. These are indefinite (quantitative) pronouns of the kind which enters into the of-construction.
b)      DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS à that, those.
c)      PRO-PREDICATE and PRO-PREDICATION à do.
d)     PRO-COMPLEMENT, PRO-PREDICATION, and PRO-CLAUSE à so.
e)      PRONOUN and PRO-COMPLEMENT à the same, likewise, similarly.
f)       ADVERBS of process à so, thus: and of degree or intensity à so, that.
In addition, the words like the former, the latter, the rest, and the remain can be considered as ‘substitution’.
            Ellipsis, however, is a ‘grammatical omission’.
Examples: 1.   She sings better than I can.
                  2.   Glad to see you.
Notes:      1.   The imitted item in sentence 1 is the verb ‘sing’. The complete sentence will be: ‘she sings better than I can sing’.
                  2.   The omission in sentence 2 is ‘I am’ prior to ‘Glad to see you’.
                        The complete statement will be: ‘I am glad to see you’.

Criteria for Ellipsis
            In view of the variable application of the above criteria (a-e) for ellipsis, it is reasonable to use the term ‘ellipsis’ in a way which acknowledges different degree of srietness in its interpretation. Table 12.37 illustrates that the kinds of omission discussed above show various kinds of family resemblance to one another, and may be loosely ranged on a gradient extending from the strictedt form of ellipsis (1) to semantic implication (9):
Table 12.37 – Criteria for Ellipsis
(a)                (b)        (c)        (d)       (e)
+          +          +          +          +            (1) I’m happy if you are (happy).
+          +          +          +          -             (2) She sings better than I can (sing).
+          ?          -           +          (+)          (3) She works harder than him (*works).
+          +          +          -           ()            (4) (I am) Glad to see you.
-                     +          +          +          -             (5) {(since he was)} {(being)} Angry, he stalked out.
+          ?          +          -           ()            (6) I believe (that) you are wrong.
-                     +          +          -           ()            (7) The man (that/who/whom/) I saw was half asleep.

-                     ?          +          -           ()            (8) Houses (that/which are) owned by Mr. Smith…

-                     -           +          -           ()            (9) The door opened and (then/after that/…) Mary entered

Criteria:
     (a)    The missing expression is precisely recoverable.
     (b)   The elliptical construction is ‘defective’.
     (c)    The insertion of the missing expression results in a grammatical sentence with the same meaning as the elliptical sentence.
     (d)   The missing expression is recoverable from the neighbouring text (rather than from the structural or situational context).
     (e)    The missing expression is an exact copy of the antecedent.




KEYS:

+ The criterion is satisfied.
-                      - The criterion is not satisfied.
?           ? There is doubt about the criterion’s satification.
(+)       (+) With the required grammatical change, the criterion would apply.
()          ( )  The criterion is not applicable.

NB: Tugas Reading Comprehension

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