2.1.4. Substitution and omission as basic mechanisms of discourse.

Normally, discourse implies two coherent procedures – substitution and omission. Substitution and omission are very useful and important as they let us avoid repeating the same words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or clauses) in our speech. We will study these mechanisms consistently in parallel with other things. Most common substitutes of nouns are certainly pronouns:

No errors are errors by themselves. They are only errors in relation to specific objectives. (They stands for errors).

Omission (another name for it is ellipsis) is leaving out words when the meaning can be understood without them:

Which color looks best here? The red or the green? (the red color or the green color)

‘I went freelance – what, fifteen years ago. Got my own consultancy now.’

‘Doing all right?’

‘I guess so.’

cf.

– I’ve / have got my own consultancy now. (omission)

– Are you doing all right? (omission)

– I guess I’m doing all right. (substitution, so being the substitute)

Substitution and omission often come together and complement each other. That is because they both take part in the process of predication. Substitution is replacing names or predicates by other words with the same reference or meaning. Omission implies leaving out words of sentence with the meaning of it staying clear. Actually, omission is concerned with incomplete, or rather implicit predications in which either the noun (argument) or the predicate (information word) is left out. Omission can also be treated as “no-substitute” substitution in which blanks stand for the meaning formed earlier in speech. There can be found lots of examples of substitution- omission interaction. Here is one of them.

Harry can do something about the matter, he really can. (He substitutes for Harry; he … can is an incomplete predication (omission) that means Harry can really do something about the matter.)

It is interesting to know that some of determiners (pre-determiners) can also function as substitutes for a noun or a noun phrase. Study the examples.

You, you and me are going to do the cleaning. A little bit each.

Obviously he tried to say something to me but I couldn’t understand what.

The car is definitely not John’s. It is somebody else’s but I don’t know whose.

Which of the two sets would you like to get? – I don’t like either.

Would you like to get one of these things? – Perhaps yes, but I am not sure which.

It’s so hard to choose. Both of them are good. I like both.

Research is a long-term process and should be treated as such.

There are many things you can do after you graduate. - Such as? (used to ask someone to give an example)

Hurry up. I haven’t got all day.

You still can’t put all things on the ever-growing list of priorities.

In the exam he forgot all he knew.

Email them all.

2.1. 5. Determiners, pre-determiners and pre-modifiers: definitions and specifications.

A pre-modifier is usually a word (words) which stands (stand) between a determiner and the central noun of a phrase. Pre-modifiers involve adjectives, participles, other nouns, compounds and adverbs.

(1) adjectives

a new theory, some basic physical processes, these remaining problems, low probability,

political aspiration, a strong feeling, a natural ability, (it is both) a social and political problem,

a firm request, (in) a mathematical way, in a certain way, unfailing interest, analytical techniques

(2) participles

breaking news, their reiterated criticism, the galloping inflation, a calculated risk, the surface cleaning machine, a threaded discussion

(3) other nouns

(3.1) noun + ‘s + noun structure

Normally, the genitive (the ‘s structure) is used for human nouns and to a lesser extent for animal nouns.

the scientist’s paper the government’s policy the student’s achievements

the students’ success people’s needs children’s activities (irregular plural)

the boss’s / the boss’ idea Socrates’ method of teaching

an hour’s discussion

In general, the genitive (the ‘s structure) is preferred for the subject–verb relation:

Barton’ s discovery = Barton discovered something.

BUT: the discovery of Barton = Somebody discovered Barton.

The of-phrase is commonly used to show the verb-object relation. Consider another example:

John’s disappearance = The speaker implies that John disappeared of his own free will.

the disappearance of John = The opposite meaning. ( Also see Post-modifiers)

The opposition of the‘s structure and of-phrase is not strict and does not always hold. The ‘s structure can identify both subjective and objective relationship. In particular, Brian’s appointment or the new manager’s introduction to the team imply a subjective relationship.

Sometimes ambiguity can arise.

(3.2.) nouns in sequence: nouns modifying other nouns

a number field, a key operation, the subject matter, a noun phrase, human group nouns (e.g. the government, the board), vacuum level, device quality, point defects, electron density, molecular structures, a reference point, the killer instinct, the reception desk, the career service staff (people whose duty is to serve students seeking information on employment, study and careers).

As seen from the examples above the modifying noun(s) is (are) usually singular. Also: a 10-year study (not ‘years’), the book business (not ‘books’), a six-minute unit (not ‘minutes’). But the pattern seems to changing now. For instance, the library has a periodicals room, and the engineering college has a materials testing laboratory. Study more examples:

But: dynamic systems theory, a savings bank, an expenses chit (It was impossible , in the circumstances, to take a taxi and put in a pink expenses chit to get the money back off the firm ; which meant that either she’d have to pay for a taxi out of her own money, or take the slow but cheaper Tube.)

the careers bloke (The careers bloke at school said that Collin needed all sorts of A levels and stuff to train to be a lawyer.)

(4) compounds

the through-and-through relativistic view, the defect-free interface, well-established classical methods, palladium-catalyzed reactions, a different-colored box, a single-spaced typescript,

a two-way analysis, single-spaced typescript, six-by-eight black and white glossy prints, pretty advanced stuff

(5) adverbs modifying adjectives and nouns

a much discussed issue, the most commonly used ingredients, the further improved algorithm, pretty advanced stuff, graphically rich pages, professionally prepared experts, a well-organized lecture, patiently crafted naterials

BUT merely a matter of taste

2.1.6. Pre-modifier allocation.

If you get to use more than one pre-modifier you have to put them in a particular order. The rules for pre-modifier order are very complicated, different grammars disagree about the details; that is why it is hardly possible to give exact instructions. Nevertheless, some of the most important rules are presented in Table 3. You will note that you have to deal with the string of pre-modifiers in a right-to-left order starting from the noun modified. Study the procedure given in Table 3. Mind that normally we do not use all these types of pre-modifiers at a time.

Table 3

Modifiers showing judgments and attitudes with the middle position of little, old, young [7]	Modifiers before pre-modifiers [6]	Modifiers of size, length, height [5]	Participles, color-adjectives, adjectives denoting age [4]	The adjective derived from a proper noun [3]	The noun / adjective modifier is next closest specify-ing the name already identified by (I) [2]	The item meaning consisting of, involving, relating to [ I ]
		.				This is not a legal issue, this is a social problem. The algorithm works in any number field.
					This is a world social problem. A method for factoring polynomials in an algebraic number field is presented. We refer to the Einsteinian spacio-temporal universe.
				This is the Russian autumn medical symposium.
			These are released Russian oil trade official decisions. These are new Russian science cosmic achievements. This is a matrioshka – variegated painted Russian wooden doll.
		This is a very big variegated painted Russian wooden matrioshka.
	An absolutely perfect design of the device is impressive.
This is a common little problem. This is a fine old picture. He is a promising young scientist. Also when modifiers are all judgments or attitudes: The trouble was that she’d done a strange, uncharacteristic and bloody stupid thing.