LessonsReasons for Omitting the Object: Context, Economy, and ScopeQuiz

One deletion can serve two aims: the utterance becomes shorter, and it may avoid restricting the action to a particular recipient. These effects can coincide in the context of a general invitation, but they are not the same meaning.

Economy concerns how much is said; generality concerns the scope of the assertion. An economical sentence may still be about a known specific object, and an overtly expansive sentence may state generality explicitly.

Therefore a combined reading must be justified by context, not by the bare fact of ellipsis.

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When economy and breadth coincide

Reasons for Omitting the Object: Context, Economy, and Scope

One deletion can serve two aims: the utterance becomes shorter, and it may avoid restricting the action to a particular recipient. These effects can coincide in the context of a general invitation, but they are not the same meaning.

Economy concerns how much is said; generality concerns the scope of the assertion. An economical sentence may still be about a known specific object, and an overtly expansive sentence may state generality explicitly.

Therefore a combined reading must be justified by context, not by the bare fact of ellipsis.