Elliptical (incomplete) sentences

An elliptical two-member sentence is a sentence in which one or more word-forms in the subject and the predicate positions are omitted. These words can be omitted because they have only grammatical, structural relevance, they do not carry any new important information and they can be easily restored to complete the meaning of the sentence:

“Where are you going?” ― “To the library”.

“Who lives in that house?” ― “John and Mary”.

Some kinds of ellipsis are likely to be found only in casual speech:

Looks like rain.

See what I mean?

You sure?

Other kinds are typical of certain restricted uses of writing, for example notices and headlines:

Children not admitted.

No smoking here.

Many kinds of ellipsis, however, are common in both speech and writing as a means of reducing repetition or sharpening contrast.

Communicative Types of Sentences

According to their role in the process of communication sentences are divided into four types: declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory sentences.

These divisions are usually applied to simple sentences. In a complex sentence the comminucative type depends upon that of the principal clause. In a compound sentence coordinate clauses may belong to different communicative types.