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Ask for help > I need help!!!
I need help!!!
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hongduyen
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I need help!!!
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Could you give me the ellipsis of the followings, please?
1. my wife �s birthday and my daughter �s birthday
2. the tailor �s house and the baker �s house
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8 Aug 2011
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Olindalima ( F )
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Hi
Not sure what you mean, but...
1. my wife �s and my daughter �s birthdays
2. the tailor �s and the baker �s houses
Is it what you were looking for?
Have a nice day.
Linda
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8 Aug 2011
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hongduyen
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Olindalima ( F ): Thank you, Linda, for your quick answer. I still wonder if we can also ellipt the premodifiers "my" and "the", like this:
1. my wife �s and daughter �s birthdays
2. the tailor �s and baker �s houses
???
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8 Aug 2011
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Olindalima ( F )
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Hi
Good question, but I �m not sure about the answer. However, in the first sentence, if you take the modifier "my", the sentence will be slightly different, because the daughter would be your wife �s, but may not be yours.
The second sentence it just sounds me better with the modifier, but I don �t know any rule to decide if it can be one way or the other.
Let �s wait for some more opinions.
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8 Aug 2011
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libertybelle
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ellipsis, as far as I know, are those dots you use when leaving out a word!
Re. your example:
I �d write: My wife and daughter �s birthdays. The tailor and the baker �s houses.
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8 Aug 2011
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Olindalima ( F )
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Hi LB
I agree with you as far as the ellipsis, but, I understood what was being asked, because the word has a very different meaning in Portuguese - we can say it �s a false friend.
Now, about your rephrasing I �d like to ask you, as a native, about a grammar rule I was taught ( and always followed ).
If you say the tailor and baker �s houses it means ( I think, I �m just asking for further explanations ) that they both have some houses in common; they are both the owners of the same houses.
If you say the tailor �s and the baker �s house, this means that each one of them has one house.
This was the way I learned the genitive, would you please let me know your opinion? Is there a different meaning in both sentences, yours and mine or are they just the same.
Genitive is one of the most difficult things to teach, cause Portuguese has no similar construction and my students always find it hard to distinguish when there is only one or more owners.
Waiting for your comments. 
Linda
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8 Aug 2011
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Jayho
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Ellipsis takes many forms including elliptical imperatives and elliptical questions. It�s a minefield and there�s not much on the net about it. But I �m sure there must be a few experts around here.
In the meantime, as far as I am aware from my previous research your examples LB are a correct example of one of the elliptical forms.
Cheers
Jayho
Edit:
Linda you have a point and Swan confirms what you have said but as a native speaker I believe most NSs would use it around the other way (even if it is grammatically incorrect)
-The tailor�s and baker�s house/s sounds clumsy
- If you say the tailor and baker�s houses we would assume that each has their own house;
- If you say the tailor and the baker�s house, we would assume that they both reside in the same house
But now, on thinking more about the ellipsis, I think that the correct elliptical form is the tailor�s and baker�s houses
"Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs" - Jack Lynch |
8 Aug 2011
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billalaziz
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Dear, Everyone
Hoping you well. I need youe help and I would like to count my points correctly.
Thank you very much |
8 Aug 2011
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billalaziz
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Dear, Everyone
Hoping you well. I need your help and I would like to count my points correctly.
Thank you very much |
8 Aug 2011
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