OFTEN in our English-language readings, we come across sentences that have certain words evidently missing yet surprisingly read right and sound right as well: 'Those who wish to [...] can very well join me.' 'The youngest staff in the office is as competent as the eldest [...].' 'If she wants more of those 1905 coins, my brother can give her plenty [...].' In each instance, although a noun and a verb have been shed off somewhere, the sentences prove to be grammatically and semantically correct. They are, in fact, none the worse for the grammatical holes in them.

As suggested by the three periods enclosed by brackets, each of those grammatical holes is an ellipsis, and the sentences where they occur are called elliptical sentences. We can say that elliptical sentences reflect the natural aversion of humans to unnecessarily repeat themselves. The elliptical sentences shown above, for instance, are simply more concise constructions of these sentences: 'Those who wish to join me can very well join me.' 'The youngest staff in the office is as competent as the eldest staff in the office.' 'If she wants more of those 1905-issue coins, my brother can give her plenty of those 1905-issue coins.'