Grammatical Ellipsis

Grammatical ellipsis occurs when words or phrases are intentionally omitted from a sentence because they are understood from the context, making communication more efficient. For example, in the exchange "She can play the piano, and he can [play the piano] too," the second phrase omits repeated words, relying on the listener to infer the missing parts. This linguistic shortcut helps avoid redundancy while still conveying the full meaning. Ellipsis is common in everyday language, writing, and speech, and is governed by grammatical rules that ensure the omitted elements are clear from the context.