When to use Elipsis

[Cosmopolitan]

Please share your thoughts on when is elipsis correct and when it is not.

 

I understand that it is OK to omit the verb if it has already appeared in the sentence. However I often fall for the tricks in elipsis.

 

The following sentence is the best example of elipsis and has been discussed in detail at: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/gmat-sentence-correction/16397-any-body-met-nasty-sc-before.html?highlight=charter

 

For many travelers, charter vacations often turn out to cost considerably more than they originally seemed.

(A) they originally seemed

(B) they originally seem to

© they seemingly would cost originally

(D) it seemed originally

(E) it originally seemed they would

 

Thanks,

Cosmopolitan

[Cosmopolitan]

Are there no takers for the above SC? Is ellipsis a difficult concept or am I missing something fundamental?

[chopra]

I went through the above link and as per Bob and erin, the answer seems to be E.

How can it be used to refer to plural charter vacations?

 

I picked A.

[Cosmopolitan]

'It' in E is an impersonal pronoun. It is non referring to 'charter vacations.'

[skarya]

Between D and E...

 

I picked D

 

"it" refers to cost...

 

what is OA?

[geekybiz1]

My pick - E.

 

Cosmopolitan, agreed that "it" cannot refer to charter vacations here, but cant find a better option!

 

skarya, "it" cannot refer to cost... infact if you look at E, cost is the understood verb - it originally seemed they would (cost)

[Philospher57]

Cosmo,ellipsis is something that baffles me also.I wish Erin/Bob would take some pains to explain it.

[tamGmat]

For many travelers, charter vacations often turn out to cost considerably more than they originally seemed.

(A) they originally seemed

(B) they originally seem to

© they seemingly would cost originally

(D) it seemed originally

(E) it originally seemed they would

 

I think E is correct.

 

A: cost is compared to charter vacations

B: Originally makes it past tense and seem is therefore incorrect.

Please let me know if it would be correct had it been seemed.

C: incorrect.....no comments

D: "it" is incorrect here but not in E

E: seems to be correct but not at the first glance, it does not refer to charter vacations here.

[krazie_tori]

For many travelers, charter vacations often turn out to cost considerably more than they originally seemed.

(A) they originally seemed

(B) they originally seem to

© they seemingly would cost originally

(D) it seemed originally

(E) it originally seemed they would

 

The comparison here is between objects of understood verb(cost). The subject under discussion is whether this costs more than that. for eg. when I say, "I am taller than you(are)" it's the comparison between subjects of understood verb(it's the comparison between you and I, and the verb would be singular).

When I say, "She calls you more than me", it's the comparison between objects of understood verb(here calls)

When comparison is made between objects of the verb cost, we know for sure we got to use objective case pronoun. Now, that would take out A,B & C out of equation right away, coz they is the subjective case pronoun.

Now the toss between D and E,

D seems well structured for me to say it's right but when I move to E it makes a statement and I feel the sentence tone's tells you more of wanting to have a generalized statement.

[Philospher57]

Cosmo,following are some excerpts from previous posts related to Ellipsis.I hope it helps-

ELLIPSIS

1. Though the remains of someof the oldest homind specimens have

almost turned to stone as molecules of minerals have saturated the

bone, most are not mineralized, only partially are so.

 

a) only partially are so.

b) only in part.

c) only partially

d) or only in part

e) or are only partially so.

 

I personally make a choice between a) and e). What is not clear for me is what "so" is refered to? I thought so can be refered to adj.: "the question is SO tricky that..." Then, what is the correct word order rule?

ERIN:First, we should notice that we need a conjunction between the two parts of the sentence. That gets us down to D and E.

 

D is not possible because only in part is not logically parallel with anything.

 

E is the best answer for sure, and so replaces mineralized. so is what some people call a "proform," i.e., it can replace other parts of speech. Think of it as a pronoun, but not for nouns. I bet you already use this--I think so, He didn't say so, etc.

 

so... that... is totally different. so... that... together is a conjunction and doesn't replace another part of speech.

A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors had elected early retirement rather than face the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

 

A. had elected early retirement rather than face

B. had elected early retirement instead of facing

C. have elected retiring early instead of facing

D. have elected to retire early rather than facing

E. have elected to retire early rather than face

 

The official answer is E. What I can't understand is that the "face" used w/out "to". Since "retire" and "face" both modify "elected", it would be more || for me if it sounds like "have elected TO retire early rather then TO face". Why "to" is omitted?

First of all, it's grammatically correct to use it either way, and we don't have the option of choosing it, you must agree--all other answer choices violate important grammar rules. Second, I would suggest that have and face are parallel, not retire and face, since the doctors are not "electing" between "retiring early..." and "facing threats..." But I think this second point is very minor and understanding it doesn't really help us get the right answer

Similar to rising interest rates, consumer and producer prices once have been rising

A.

B Consumer and producer prices have been rising, as have interest rates

C. As interest rates are rising, so have consumer and product prices

D. Consumer and producer prices have been rising like interest rates do

E. Consumer and producer prices, as interest rates, have been rising

 

The official answer is B. But again I have a question about omission. The tense is Present Perfect Continious = have + been + [ing]. BUT in the second part there is only "have": "as have interest rates". Where is "been"?? Why it is omitted?

This one's tricky, and perhaps not easy to explain or understand. The short answer is that we can "ellipse" (omit by the process of ellipsis) parts of the verb phrase that are repeated.

 

For example:

 

Yazynin will go to the library to study for our test tomorrow, as will I go to the library to study for our test tomorrow.

 

The general rule with ellipsis is that you have to keep at least one of the elements; the rest is kind of a judgment call. In general, the farther apart the two parts are, the more of the rest you need to repeat.

It is well known in the supermarket industry that how items are placed on shelves and how frequently inventory turns over can be crucial to profits.

 

OG explains that here the model is "X and Y are crucial" and X and Y need to be in parallel .

OG does not repeat "that" with Y. In other words, correct answer does NOT read :

It is well known in the soipermarket industry that how items are placed on shelves and THAT how frequently inventory turns over can be crucial to profits.

 

However, notice repetation of "that' in following statement.

 

A panel concluded that malnutrition is the most serious health problem facing the third world countries, but that it can and will be eradicated with the assistance of developed countries.

 

Now my question is what are the rules govering repetation of "that".

 

Similarly , in OG there are number of questions where (and) that , (which) that repetation are tested.

I do have a few more generic (GMAT) grammar questions that I will be asking in separate threads.

Okay, you are asking an advanced question about parallel structure. In many cases, we have more than one element that is parallel.

 

Let's say you have something like the following:

 

I know that you are very smart and that you are strong as well.

 

In this sentence, we have three things that are EXACTLY the same:

 

[*]that

[*]you

[*]are

Depending on the sentence, you might all or none of the repeated elements.

 

If the sentence is short and sweet, we can omit more stuff:

 

I know that you are very smart and strong.

 

If there's more "stuff" intervening, we might choose to add one of these elements to "remind" the reader just what's parallel:

 

I know that you are very smart when it's later in the day and you've had your coffee and that you are strong as well.

 

In this case, the that serves to remind us just what part of the previous sentence the next part is going to parallel.

[Cosmopolitan]

Thanks, it does help.