Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Û

539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

From utterance to discourse | 181

---

Initial elements 

94b

In spoken language, the most common kind of situational ellipsis involves initial

elements in phrases and clauses, especially at the beginning of a speaker’s turn. 

A normally expected determiner may be absent from a noun phrase, or the initial

preposition from a prepositional phrase, or an initial auxiliary verb and its subject

may be unnecessary where the meaning is obvious to all participants. This is

particularly common in informal conversation:

A: Where’s that cheese we bought?

B: Fridge I think.

(understood: In the fridge I think.)

A: Seen that photo? The photo of mum when she was young?

B: Yes.

(understood: Have you seen that photo?)