وَاسْأَلِ الْقَرْيَةَ
Ask the town [that is, its people]. (Yūsuf 12:82)
The physical town cannot answer questions as its inhabitants can. A common explanatory reconstruction supplies “ahl al-qaryah,” with reason and ordinary usage supporting the omitted term.
It would be unsound to assume that every location noun hides “people.” Other figurative or direct uses may be possible. A defensible ellipsis analysis must establish both the contextual cue and the reason for positing the omitted element.
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Supplementary Practice 7: Editing Expressions, Weighing Context and Rhetorical Critique
وَاسْأَلِ الْقَرْيَةَ
Ask the town [that is, its people]. (Yūsuf 12:82)
The physical town cannot answer questions as its inhabitants can. A common explanatory reconstruction supplies “ahl al-qaryah,” with reason and ordinary usage supporting the omitted term.
It would be unsound to assume that every location noun hides “people.” Other figurative or direct uses may be possible. A defensible ellipsis analysis must establish both the contextual cue and the reason for positing the omitted element.