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Ellipsis & Substitution in Linguistics

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Ellipsis There are generally considered to be two different kinds of ellipsis, situational and textual. Situational ellipsis is, unsurprisingly, where the situation or context makes the missing element clear. It’s informal and mostly used in conversation. For example, ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ can easily become ‘Tea?’ if you are waving a mug at someone, or even just sitting in the kitchen. Textual ellipsis has more grammatical ‘rules’, and can be found in both speech and writing. It could be defined as when we omit something that has already been mentioned (so doesn’t need to be repeated), or when what is missing is clearly recoverable from the text. E.g. " I went to the bakers to get some wholemeal rolls and (I went) to the butchers for lamb chops." Textual ellipsis is probably most commonly found in the second clause after ‘and’ or ‘but’ Reduced relative clauses and reduced adverbial clauses are also often considered to be examples of ellipsis. With...
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Simple Present or Present Continuous?

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Grammar Rule Examples I  play  tennis every Sunday. I ’m playing  hockey now. She  eats  fruit every day. She ’s eating  an apple now. Remember! We use the present simple to talk about routines – what you do every day or every week. " I  watch  cartoons  every day ." We use the present continuous to talk about things you are doing now. "I ’m watching  a film  now" Be careful! For the present simple, add ‘s’ or ‘es’ for he/she/it. Make the negative with ‘don’t’ or ‘doesn’t’.  For the present continuous, use the verb ‘to be’ and ‘-ing’. Add ‘not’ to make the negative.   My dad  makes  dinner every evening. He  doesn’t make  lunch. We  are studying  English now. We  aren’t studying  maths. We say... We don’t say... I wake up every morning at 7:00. (NOT I am waking up every morning at 7:00.) She is talking on the phone now. (NOT She talks on the p...
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The Passive Voice

The  passive voice  is used to show interest in the person or object that experiences an action rather than the pe rson or object th at performs the action. In other words, the most important thing or person becomes the subject of the sentence. Transitive verbs, which are verbs that can be turned into the passive voice , have both active and passive forms: Active   Passive The hunter killed the lion. >> The lion was killed by the hunter. Someone has cleaned the windows >> The windows have been cleaned The passive forms are made up of the verb  be  with a  past participle :   be Past participle   English is spoken all over the world The windows have been cleaned   Lunch was being served   The work will be finished soon They might have been invited to the party We sometimes use the verb  get  to form the passive: Be careful with the glass. It might  get  br...
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Verbs followed by ‘ing’ or by ‘to + infinitive’

Read the grammar explanation and do the exercise. When one verb is followed by another, the second verb can either be an infinitive  or an  –ing (gerund) form. Some verbs can be followed by only an  infinitive , others by only an –ing  form and some by both but with a change in meaning. To know which structure to use, you can consult a good dictionary but here are some common examples. Verb + infinitive I want to speak to the manager. She’s learning to ride a horse. He offered to help us wash up. They decided to go camping together.  I promised to study this summer holidays.  Other verbs in this group include:   afford ,  agree ,  ask ,  choose ,  decide ,  expect ,  hope ,  prepare ,  promise ,  pretend ,  refuse ,  would like . Verb + ‘ing’ form I enjoy travelling. He admitted stealing the necklace. I don’t mind waiting if you’re busy. ‘ enjoy ’ ‘ admit ’ a...
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Conditionals... how to remember each!

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Zero conditional We use the  zero conditional  to talk about things that are always true. If you heat water, it boils. When the sun goes down, it gets dark. It lights up if you push that button. The present simple is used in both clauses. First conditional We use the  first conditional  when we talk about real and possible situations. I’ll go shopping on the way home if I have time. If it’s a nice day tomorrow, we’ll go to the beach. If Arsenal win, they’ll be top of the league. In first conditional sentences, the structure is usually  if + present simple  and  will + infinitive . It’s not important which clause comes first. Second conditional The  second conditional  is used to talk about ‘unreal’ or impossible things. If I won a lot of money, I’d buy a big house in the country. Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world? If you didn’t smoke so much, you’d feel a lot better. The structure is ...
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The Romantic period & Gothic Literature

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Historical overview  Romantic & Gothic Literature  The gothic literary movement is part of the larger Romantic Movement. Gothic literature shares many of the characteristics of romanticism, such as the emphasis on emotions and the imagination. Gothic literature goes beyond the melancholy evident in most romantic works, however, it gets into the areas of horror and decay, becoming preoccupied with death.  Both DRACULA by Bram Stoker and WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emlily Bronte, are such powerful examples of gothic literature, as they both illustrate the features of romantic and gothic literature. However, they also share some relevant differences as the novel Dracula belongs to a gothic-fiction period and Wuthering Heights remebles as a gothic critique to the social injustice during the Romantic period in literature. One of the most defining characteristics on romanticism is the tendency to exalt both nature and the supernatural.  Some of the Gothic elemen...
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"Dracula" by Bram Stoker

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 Test your knowledge! Follow the link below to test how much you can recall about Dracula's Gothic story... https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=mtuznzi0oa0x2t Once you've finished post your score on the comments below. Good luck! 
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