Limning Language

This is a blog about language.
My sister compelled me to make it.

E-mail me.
June 18

Elliptically...

Speakers often leave out words or phrases that have already been used in the same sentence or a previous one. Syntacticians call this ‘ellipsis’. For instance, (1)b. is a perfectly acceptable alternative to (1)a., while (2)b., c., d., e., and f. are all probably more likely (and certainly more succinct) answers than (2)a.

(1)
a. Maisie’s a dog, but I’m not a dog.
b. Maisie’s a dog, but I’m not.

(2)
Question: Will you go to the shops this evening and get some bananas, milk, bread, cheese, and haggis?
a. Yes, I will go to the shops this evening and get some bananas, milk, bread, cheese, and haggis.
b. Yes, I will get some bananas, milk, bread, cheese, and haggis.
c. Yes, I will go to the shops this evening.
d. Yes, I will go to the shops.
e. Yes, I will go.
f. Yes, I will.

This brings me to a sign I noticed today while seeing a friend off at the train station. It had the usual warnings about leaving bags unattended (they might be mistaken for explosives, people might steal them, etc.). At the bottom was an apparent attempt at pithy admonition:

If you don’t keep hold of your belongings, someone else might.

By rights, without ellipsis the second part of the sentence would be ‘someone else might keep hold of your belongings’. But keeping hold of belongings is only something one does if one has them already; It does not encompass walking off with someone else’s. Of course, without ellipsis some brevity is lost:

If you don’t keep hold of your belongings, someone else might abscond with them
(and then you’ll be awfully sorry that you didn’t take us seriously).

With a better choice of phrase, though, the ellipsis could be saved:

If you don’t take charge of your belongings, someone else might.

And so I rest my case(s).

Suitcases