ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS - SLUICED, SIMPLER, SILENT SYNTAX- IS ELLIPSIS EVASIVE?

Abstract

Undoubtedly, consistency is significant in writing, and therefore much research has been done on cohesive devices in student writing. Specifically many studies state and prove that the two grammatical cohesion strategies: substitution and ellipsis are the weakest cohesive elements used in the ESL / EFL learner's writing process. This highlights the importance of further research on these two grammatically consistent methods. As a context analysis method this study probes into the extracts wherein the cohesive devices employed in Charles Dicken’s short story, The Signalman. As a quantitative method it compares the frequency of ellipsis in the story as identified by the researcher and the students. Ellipsis employed in The Signal Man and its identification in the same text by undergraduate students in their discourse analysis assessment insists on developing teaching materials, which are sufficiently embedded with the tasks that would aid the learners of undergraduate level in EFL/ESL as well as Discourse Analysis course to acquire the requisite knowledge to be good and successful communicators. This study identified ample use of ellipsis by Charles Dickens, who is hailed as ‘Golden- penned.” It has also found adequate use of ellipsis in abridged version and it’s heartening to find out the students within a given stipulated time during an assessment could identify almost one fourth of the ellipsis from The Signalman.