Sometimes in our writing or speaking we will drop a word or words that are needed for grammatical completeness, but they are still understood when they are left out.<\/p>\n
Examples<\/em><\/strong> Such sentences will typically be clear to an audience. However, occasionally an omission can cloud the meaning. Ensuring clarity calls for knowing when and when not to withhold words.<\/p>\n The Missing\u00a0That<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The pronoun\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0can usually be left out before a noun clause with little loss of meaning, as in \u201cDo you think [that] she is correct?\u201d (The noun clause\u00a0she is correct<\/em>\u00a0is the direct object of the main clause Do you think<\/em>.)<\/p>\n However, in certain instances omitting\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0between a main clause and a noun clause can make them seem to merge, potentially causing confusion about where one concludes and the other begins:<\/p>\n Riley felt my pulse was quicker than usual.<\/em><\/p>\n While this expression may still be understood, some audiences might at first interpret the noun phrase\u00a0my pulse<\/em>\u00a0as the object of the first (main) clause rather than the subject of the second (noun) clause that is the object in its entirety. In such a case, one might have to re-read the sentence. For this reason, including\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0even as a subtle addition separates the clauses for greater precision.<\/p>\n Compound Structures<\/strong><\/p>\n An omission should not obscure a compound expression (two ideas in a word, a phrase, or a sentence).<\/p>\n Example<\/em><\/strong> Without a specific person being named, we\u2019re unsure of whether\u00a0my friend and adviser<\/em>\u00a0comprises one person or two.<\/p>\n If we are referring to one person, a better sentence would be\u00a0My friend advised me to get more sleep to lower my stress.<\/em>\u00a0If we mean two people, we would write\u00a0My friend and my adviser suggested I get more sleep to lower my stress.\u00a0<\/em>(To remove all doubt, this statement could further be written as\u00a0My friend along with my adviser suggested \u2026<\/em>)<\/p>\n Misapplied omission also can lead to unfinished\u2014and ungrammatical\u2014compound structures.<\/p>\n Incomplete:\u00a0He has not and never will be one to get frustrated.<\/em> Incomplete:\u00a0The revisions neither subtract nor add to the proposal\u2019s main points.<\/em> Unclear Comparisons<\/strong><\/p>\n Omission commonly appears in comparisons. We would be correct in believing an audience would understand comparison sentences such as:<\/p>\n This problem is as challenging as that one [is challenging].<\/em> When comparisons include words such as\u00a0than<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0as<\/em>, however, some omissions can leave readers uncertain about which word or words are missing. In these sentences, we should determine our intended meaning and include all words needed to achieve it.<\/p>\n Vague Sentence:\u00a0The Turners visit the museum more than the Tylers.<\/em> Similarly, omitting the word\u00a0other<\/em>\u00a0in\u00a0than<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0as<\/em>\u00a0clauses also can cause something to be illogically compared to itself:<\/p>\n The Burj Khalifa is taller than any building.<\/em><\/p>\n Omitting\u00a0other<\/em>\u00a0in this example would suggest that the Burj Khalifa is not or might not be a building. A clearer sentence would be\u00a0The Burj Khalifa is taller than any other building.<\/em><\/p>\n When done with thought and care, leaving certain words out can offer our writing both brevity and technique. We just want to make sure we\u2019re not also making our readers feel left out of the best of our thoughts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Using what you\u2019ve learned in this article, choose the sentence that makes the best use of omission in each pair.<\/p>\n 1a. Rob thinks Ryanna is smart. 2a. His boss and best friend loaned him money. 3a. Sheila plays with friends more than Tanika. 4a. The Giants are craftier than any baseball team. <\/p>\n Correct answers appear in bold type.<\/p>\n 1a. Rob thinks Ryanna is smart.<\/strong>\u00a0(Omitting\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0does not create any confusion over where the main clause ends and the objective noun clause begins; omitting\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0in 1b can result in such confusion.)<\/span> 2a. His boss and best friend loaned him money. 3a. Sheila plays with friends more than Tanika. 4a. The Giants are craftier than any baseball team. Sometimes in our writing or speaking we will drop a word or words that are needed for grammatical completeness, but they are still understood when they are left out. Examples Do you think [that] she is correct? His brother and [his] attorney, Chris, will represent him. I tend to watch football more than [I watch] […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-effective-writing","category-pronouns"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3099\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDo you think [that] she is correct?<\/em>
\nHis brother and [his] attorney, Chris, will represent him.<\/em>
\nI tend to watch football more than [I watch] basketball.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nMy friend and adviser suggested I get more sleep to help lower my stress.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nComplete:\u00a0He has not<\/em>\u00a0been\u00a0and never will be one to get frustrated.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nComplete:\u00a0The revisions neither subtract<\/em>\u00a0from\u00a0nor add to the proposal\u2019s main points.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThe air is more humid this month than [it was] last [month].<\/em><\/p>\n
\nClear Meaning 1:\u00a0The Turners visit the museum more than<\/em>\u00a0they visit\u00a0the Tylers.<\/em>
\nClear Meaning 2:\u00a0The Turners visit the museum more than the Tylers\u00a0<\/em>do.<\/p>\nPop Quiz<\/h2>\n
\n1b. Rob finds her approach reaps results.<\/p>\n
\n2b. His boss and his best friend loaned him money.<\/p>\n
\n3b. Sheila plays with friends more than Tanika does.<\/p>\n
\n4b. The Giants are craftier than any other baseball team.<\/p>\nPop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n
\n1b. Rob finds her approach reaps results.<\/p>\n
\n2b. His boss and his best friend loaned him money.\u00a0<\/strong>(Because the sentence is in the past tense, 2b more clearly conveys whether the boss and the friend are one person or two.)<\/span><\/p>\n
\n3b. Sheila plays with friends more than Tanika does.\u00a0<\/strong>(This sentence has one clear meaning while 3a is open to different interpretations.)<\/span><\/p>\n
\n4b. The Giants are craftier than any other baseball team.<\/strong>\u00a0(4a leaves open the possibility that the Giants could be something other than a baseball team.)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"