How to use ellipsis in informal English

Oh, Greg sent a voice message.

Hey, my friend, you all good?

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

You watch 1987?

Directed by that guy who was married to Kate Winslet,

the posh girl in Titanic.

You've seen that film, right?

The big boat hits an iceberg.

Anyway, 1987, best film ever.

There's a soldier,

handsome guy, been in other films before.

Hello.

Hello, guys.

It’s Maria.

I've been staying at home lately

and practising my English by chatting with friends,

using apps like Face Time, Hangouts.

Commenting on forums and videos

and using messaging platforms to stay in touch with people.

So, today I’ll be teaching you

about informal language we use every day.

Looking, specifically, at something we call ellipses.

When ellipses happens,

we use grammar in a different way

because we leave out items we will normally expect to use

if we follow the usual grammatical rules.

I will keep it simple for you.

So, I’ll explain three cases when we can use ellipses.

Hi, Maria.

Hi, Liz.

Hey, Jen text me.

She said she’s getting married next year.

Really?

Yes.

She met him last summer and she got engaged very fast.

Hi, Maria.

Hi, Liz.

Hey, Jen text me.

Said she’s getting married next year.

For real?

Yes.

Met him last summer and got engaged very fast.

Here, we don’t need to mention someone or something

because it is obvious who or what we’re referring to.

This is probably one of the most common uses of ellipses.

Questions.

Here, we can either leave out the auxiliary or the auxiliary

and the subject.

So, are you going to use brown or red?

For what?

Your nails.

Nails?

I finished them a while ago.

Wait.

What?

What about do you want to do our nails together?

So, you're going to use brown or red?

For what?

Your nails.

Nails?

I finished them a while ago.

Wait.

What?

What about you want to do our nails together?

We leave out the auxiliary

if it is clear from the context.

In this case,

we don’t normally use ellipses with the first-person pronoun.

Oh, sorry, am I making too much noise?

Oh, sorry, I making too much noise?

Have you finished doing the dishes?

Yes.

Great.

Do you want to Face Time with Sophie?

Is she free?

Yes.

I checked with her before, actually.

Finished doing the dishes?

Yes.

Great.

Want to Face Time with Sophie?

Is she free?

Yes, checked with her before, actually.

We can take out our subject pronoun

and an auxiliary verb at the beginning of a question

when the meaning is obvious.

So, remember,

we can take out words such as the subject in a statement.

Sometimes, the subject in questions or even the subject

and the auxiliary verb in questions

if they are obvious and the context allows for it.

All right, guys.

That's everything for today.

Remember, you can check out more informal language in Greg’s

text abbreviations video on the channel.

Stay home and stay safe.

See you.