Hi Experts,
I need some real help in understanding the concept of ellipsis .I have gone through few of the posts in BTG and GMAT club forums related to this concept but I still have my doubts regarding this concept. I seek help from experts in this forum to clear my doubts with the help of enough examples for all the scenarios mentioned by me in the below questions. I know this is a long post but I believe that explanations to all the questions raised by me below would make this post an one stop post for for all the GMAT aspirants for understanding the concept of ellipsis.
As per my understanding, after reading the available posts on ellipsis, I understood that “Sometimes in English we may need to omit few word(s) from a sentence in order to make sentence more concise, provided that the words omitted are used elsewhere in the sentence and that the omission of words doesn’t lead to ambiguity”.
Please correct me if I am wrong in my understanding.
Doubt 1: Can these omitted words be any parts of speech or they can only be the helping verbs or prepositions?
Doubt 2: Is it mandatory that the omitted word has to appear prior or can it appear later also in the sentence. e.g. is the below correct?
Rohit's is a office of high quality professionals.
Can we omit the word office after Rohit's as it appears later in the sentence.
Now let us discuss this question.
Q1:Beaded wedding gowns are so expensive because the seamstress still pursues her art as they have for centuries, by hand-stringing each bead and then knotting each thread individually to achieve a secure attachment for each bead.
(A) the seamstress still pursues her art as they have
(B) the seamstress still pursues her art as she has
(C) seamstresses still pursue their art as they have
(D) seamstresses still pursue their art as was done
(E) the seamstress still pursues her art as has been done
OA: C
Doubt 3:
if we don’t omit the words, the correct sentence should read as below
Beaded wedding gowns are so expensive because the seamstress still pursue their art as they have pursued for centuries, by hand-stringing each bead and then knotting each thread individually to achieve a secure attachment for each bead.
Is omission of pursued valid here? It is pursue and not pursued which has been used earlier in the sentence. So is the OA perfectly correct?
Take one more official question
Q3: Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were last year.
(A) Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were
(B) Heating-oil prices are expected to rise higher this year over last because refiners pay about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did
(C) Expectations are for heating-oil prices to be higher this year than last year's because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did
(d) It is the expectation that heating-oil prices will be higher for this year over last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil now than what they were
(E) It is expected that heating-oil prices will rise higher this year than last year's because refiners pay about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did.
OA: A
Doubt 4:
Now if you look at the comparison part, it says
Heating-oil prices are expected to behigher this year than last
Refiners are paying about $5 a barrelmore for crude oil than they were last year
Without omission the correct sentence should read as below
Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than Heating oil prices/they were last year because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were paying last year.
As we can see above, there are omissions at two places. I have problem with the omission of words at the first place.
I can understand that heating oil prices can be omitted as it has occurred previously in the sentence and with same logic, year can also be omitted. But how about were? Were doesn’t occur in the sentence before. According to me “are” can’t substitute “were”. Please correct me if I am wrong.
So is the below comparison correct?
Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were.
Q3: For many travelers, charter vacations often turn out to cost considerably more than they originally seemed.
(A) they originally seemed
(B) they originally seem to
(C) they seemingly would cost originally
(D) it seemed originally
(E) it originally seemed they would
OA :E
Doubt 5:
What’s wrong with option A?
Can we read the full sentence as below after substituting the omitted words.
For many travelers, charter vacations often turn out to cost considerably more than they originally seemedto cost.
To cost already appears in the sentence before, so according to your explanation in the post we can substitute omit/substitute this sentence.
If it Is true then the option A also seems correct to me. Kindly share your views
Q4: Salt deposits and moisture threaten to destroy the Mohenjo-Daro excavation in Pakistan, the site of an ancient civilization that flourished at the same time as the civilizations in the Nile delta and the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates.
(A) that flourished at the same time as the civilizations
(B) that had flourished at the same time as had the civilizations
(C) that flourished at the same time those had
(D) flourishing at the same time as those did
(E) flourishing at the same time as those were
OA: A
As per my understanding, the above question also tests ellipsis.
If we try to substitute the omissions then the correct sentence should read as below
Salt deposits and moisture threaten to destroy the Mohenjo-Daro excavation in Pakistan, the site of an ancient civilization that flourished at the same time as did/flourished the civilizations in the Nile delta and the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates .
Please confirm whether my understanding is correct.
I believe, your explanation to each of my doubts will certainly help me as well as others immensely to understand the concept of ellipsis much better.
Thanks a lot in advance,![]()
I need some real help in understanding the concept of ellipsis .I have gone through few of the posts in BTG and GMAT club forums related to this concept but I still have my doubts regarding this concept. I seek help from experts in this forum to clear my doubts with the help of enough examples for all the scenarios mentioned by me in the below questions. I know this is a long post but I believe that explanations to all the questions raised by me below would make this post an one stop post for for all the GMAT aspirants for understanding the concept of ellipsis.
As per my understanding, after reading the available posts on ellipsis, I understood that “Sometimes in English we may need to omit few word(s) from a sentence in order to make sentence more concise, provided that the words omitted are used elsewhere in the sentence and that the omission of words doesn’t lead to ambiguity”.
Please correct me if I am wrong in my understanding.
Doubt 1: Can these omitted words be any parts of speech or they can only be the helping verbs or prepositions?
Doubt 2: Is it mandatory that the omitted word has to appear prior or can it appear later also in the sentence. e.g. is the below correct?
Rohit's is a office of high quality professionals.
Can we omit the word office after Rohit's as it appears later in the sentence.
Now let us discuss this question.
Q1:Beaded wedding gowns are so expensive because the seamstress still pursues her art as they have for centuries, by hand-stringing each bead and then knotting each thread individually to achieve a secure attachment for each bead.
(A) the seamstress still pursues her art as they have
(B) the seamstress still pursues her art as she has
(C) seamstresses still pursue their art as they have
(D) seamstresses still pursue their art as was done
(E) the seamstress still pursues her art as has been done
OA: C
Doubt 3:
if we don’t omit the words, the correct sentence should read as below
Beaded wedding gowns are so expensive because the seamstress still pursue their art as they have pursued for centuries, by hand-stringing each bead and then knotting each thread individually to achieve a secure attachment for each bead.
Is omission of pursued valid here? It is pursue and not pursued which has been used earlier in the sentence. So is the OA perfectly correct?
Take one more official question
Q3: Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were last year.
(A) Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were
(B) Heating-oil prices are expected to rise higher this year over last because refiners pay about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did
(C) Expectations are for heating-oil prices to be higher this year than last year's because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did
(d) It is the expectation that heating-oil prices will be higher for this year over last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil now than what they were
(E) It is expected that heating-oil prices will rise higher this year than last year's because refiners pay about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did.
OA: A
Doubt 4:
Now if you look at the comparison part, it says
Heating-oil prices are expected to behigher this year than last
Refiners are paying about $5 a barrelmore for crude oil than they were last year
Without omission the correct sentence should read as below
Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than Heating oil prices/they were last year because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were paying last year.
As we can see above, there are omissions at two places. I have problem with the omission of words at the first place.
I can understand that heating oil prices can be omitted as it has occurred previously in the sentence and with same logic, year can also be omitted. But how about were? Were doesn’t occur in the sentence before. According to me “are” can’t substitute “were”. Please correct me if I am wrong.
So is the below comparison correct?
Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were.
Q3: For many travelers, charter vacations often turn out to cost considerably more than they originally seemed.
(A) they originally seemed
(B) they originally seem to
(C) they seemingly would cost originally
(D) it seemed originally
(E) it originally seemed they would
OA :E
Doubt 5:
What’s wrong with option A?
Can we read the full sentence as below after substituting the omitted words.
For many travelers, charter vacations often turn out to cost considerably more than they originally seemedto cost.
To cost already appears in the sentence before, so according to your explanation in the post we can substitute omit/substitute this sentence.
If it Is true then the option A also seems correct to me. Kindly share your views
Q4: Salt deposits and moisture threaten to destroy the Mohenjo-Daro excavation in Pakistan, the site of an ancient civilization that flourished at the same time as the civilizations in the Nile delta and the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates.
(A) that flourished at the same time as the civilizations
(B) that had flourished at the same time as had the civilizations
(C) that flourished at the same time those had
(D) flourishing at the same time as those did
(E) flourishing at the same time as those were
OA: A
As per my understanding, the above question also tests ellipsis.
If we try to substitute the omissions then the correct sentence should read as below
Salt deposits and moisture threaten to destroy the Mohenjo-Daro excavation in Pakistan, the site of an ancient civilization that flourished at the same time as did/flourished the civilizations in the Nile delta and the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates .
Please confirm whether my understanding is correct.
I believe, your explanation to each of my doubts will certainly help me as well as others immensely to understand the concept of ellipsis much better.
Thanks a lot in advance,