Phrasal contraction, reduced sentence structure, verbal shortcut: what is this called?
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Possibly related to this request for an antonym for pleonasm except I want to know if there is a name for the grammatical construction or the process where (pseudo) redundant words are removed. The content is still interpretable, because there is a reasonable amount of redundancy in English (and other languages).
Inspired by this question where the phrase used is
"He looks like if John had no hair."
Two of the comments suggest this could be expanded, say "He looks like John would if John had no hair". I'd like to know if there's a generalised name for the process of getting from the expanded version to the reduced version.
This type of construction is common in Singlish (Singaporean English), where if you asked someone if they'd been for lunch, you might get the answer:
"Yes, go come back already."
Which could be expanded to "Yes, we have been for lunch and have already come back", except there's a lot of redundancy there.
Is there a name for reducing a phrase or sentence down to just the bare bones of meaning?
single-word-requests
asked Sep 27 at 13:20
Pam
3,3571426
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
Possibly related to this request for an antonym for pleonasm except I want to know if there is a name for the grammatical construction or the process where (pseudo) redundant words are removed. The content is still interpretable, because there is a reasonable amount of redundancy in English (and other languages).
Inspired by this question where the phrase used is
"He looks like if John had no hair."
Two of the comments suggest this could be expanded, say "He looks like John would if John had no hair". I'd like to know if there's a generalised name for the process of getting from the expanded version to the reduced version.
This type of construction is common in Singlish (Singaporean English), where if you asked someone if they'd been for lunch, you might get the answer:
"Yes, go come back already."
Which could be expanded to "Yes, we have been for lunch and have already come back", except there's a lot of redundancy there.
Is there a name for reducing a phrase or sentence down to just the bare bones of meaning?
single-word-requests
asked Sep 27 at 13:20
Pam
3,3571426
Editing?
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 16:35
Could be @RogerSinasohn. I was thinking that "contraction" is removing redundant(ish) letters and "editing" is removing superfluous content maybe on a sentence or paragraph level. I was hoping there would be a specific word for this on a word level. Eg if a given verb is always used with a specific preposition, then the preposition could be removed without changing the meaning. Or if the subject of the sentence is inherent as in "said to self" rather than "I said to myself".
– Pam
Sep 27 at 16:59
As this likely isn't unique to Singlish, there may very well be such a word. (I'm not sure what it would be, however.)
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 17:16
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
Possibly related to this request for an antonym for pleonasm except I want to know if there is a name for the grammatical construction or the process where (pseudo) redundant words are removed. The content is still interpretable, because there is a reasonable amount of redundancy in English (and other languages).
Inspired by this question where the phrase used is
"He looks like if John had no hair."
Two of the comments suggest this could be expanded, say "He looks like John would if John had no hair". I'd like to know if there's a generalised name for the process of getting from the expanded version to the reduced version.
This type of construction is common in Singlish (Singaporean English), where if you asked someone if they'd been for lunch, you might get the answer:
"Yes, go come back already."
Which could be expanded to "Yes, we have been for lunch and have already come back", except there's a lot of redundancy there.
Is there a name for reducing a phrase or sentence down to just the bare bones of meaning?
single-word-requests
asked Sep 27 at 13:20
Pam
3,3571426
Possibly related to this request for an antonym for pleonasm except I want to know if there is a name for the grammatical construction or the process where (pseudo) redundant words are removed. The content is still interpretable, because there is a reasonable amount of redundancy in English (and other languages).
Inspired by this question where the phrase used is
"He looks like if John had no hair."
Two of the comments suggest this could be expanded, say "He looks like John would if John had no hair". I'd like to know if there's a generalised name for the process of getting from the expanded version to the reduced version.
This type of construction is common in Singlish (Singaporean English), where if you asked someone if they'd been for lunch, you might get the answer:
"Yes, go come back already."
Which could be expanded to "Yes, we have been for lunch and have already come back", except there's a lot of redundancy there.
Is there a name for reducing a phrase or sentence down to just the bare bones of meaning?
single-word-requests
single-word-requests
asked Sep 27 at 13:20
Pam
3,3571426
asked Sep 27 at 13:20
Pam
3,3571426
asked Sep 27 at 13:20
Pam
3,3571426
asked Sep 27 at 13:20
Pam
3,3571426
asked Sep 27 at 13:20
Pam
3,3571426
3,3571426
Editing?
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 16:35
Could be @RogerSinasohn. I was thinking that "contraction" is removing redundant(ish) letters and "editing" is removing superfluous content maybe on a sentence or paragraph level. I was hoping there would be a specific word for this on a word level. Eg if a given verb is always used with a specific preposition, then the preposition could be removed without changing the meaning. Or if the subject of the sentence is inherent as in "said to self" rather than "I said to myself".
– Pam
Sep 27 at 16:59
As this likely isn't unique to Singlish, there may very well be such a word. (I'm not sure what it would be, however.)
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 17:16
add a comment |
Editing?
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 16:35
Could be @RogerSinasohn. I was thinking that "contraction" is removing redundant(ish) letters and "editing" is removing superfluous content maybe on a sentence or paragraph level. I was hoping there would be a specific word for this on a word level. Eg if a given verb is always used with a specific preposition, then the preposition could be removed without changing the meaning. Or if the subject of the sentence is inherent as in "said to self" rather than "I said to myself".
– Pam
Sep 27 at 16:59
As this likely isn't unique to Singlish, there may very well be such a word. (I'm not sure what it would be, however.)
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 17:16
Editing?
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 16:35
Editing?
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 16:35
Could be @RogerSinasohn. I was thinking that "contraction" is removing redundant(ish) letters and "editing" is removing superfluous content maybe on a sentence or paragraph level. I was hoping there would be a specific word for this on a word level. Eg if a given verb is always used with a specific preposition, then the preposition could be removed without changing the meaning. Or if the subject of the sentence is inherent as in "said to self" rather than "I said to myself".
– Pam
Sep 27 at 16:59
Could be @RogerSinasohn. I was thinking that "contraction" is removing redundant(ish) letters and "editing" is removing superfluous content maybe on a sentence or paragraph level. I was hoping there would be a specific word for this on a word level. Eg if a given verb is always used with a specific preposition, then the preposition could be removed without changing the meaning. Or if the subject of the sentence is inherent as in "said to self" rather than "I said to myself".
– Pam
Sep 27 at 16:59
As this likely isn't unique to Singlish, there may very well be such a word. (I'm not sure what it would be, however.)
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 17:16
As this likely isn't unique to Singlish, there may very well be such a word. (I'm not sure what it would be, however.)
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 17:16
add a comment |
1 Answer
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ellipsis
This is a term from syntax.
According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary:
ELLIPSIS
: the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete.
answered 14 mins ago
user307254
1,851110
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
ellipsis
This is a term from syntax.
According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary:
ELLIPSIS
: the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete.
answered 14 mins ago
user307254
1,851110
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
ellipsis
This is a term from syntax.
According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary:
ELLIPSIS
: the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete.
answered 14 mins ago
user307254
1,851110
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
ellipsis
This is a term from syntax.
According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary:
ELLIPSIS
: the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete.
answered 14 mins ago
user307254
1,851110
ellipsis
This is a term from syntax.
According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary:
ELLIPSIS
: the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete.
answered 14 mins ago
user307254
1,851110
edited 8 mins ago
answered 14 mins ago
user307254
1,851110
answered 14 mins ago
user307254
1,851110
answered 14 mins ago
user307254
1,851110
1,851110
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Editing?
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 16:35
Could be @RogerSinasohn. I was thinking that "contraction" is removing redundant(ish) letters and "editing" is removing superfluous content maybe on a sentence or paragraph level. I was hoping there would be a specific word for this on a word level. Eg if a given verb is always used with a specific preposition, then the preposition could be removed without changing the meaning. Or if the subject of the sentence is inherent as in "said to self" rather than "I said to myself".
– Pam
Sep 27 at 16:59
As this likely isn't unique to Singlish, there may very well be such a word. (I'm not sure what it would be, however.)
– Roger Sinasohn
Sep 27 at 17:16