Which device involves leaving out words that are recoverable from context to avoid repetition?

Which device involves leaving out words that are recoverable from context to avoid repetition?

• A. Ellipsis
• B. Substitution
• C. Reference
• D. Repetition

Answer: (A)

Leaving out words that can be recovered from the surrounding context is ellipsis. It keeps writing concise by dropping words that aren’t needed because their meaning is already clear from what has been said. The missing material is understood from the context, so the sentence still makes sense even with the gap. For example, I’ll have the soup, and she will, too. Here the words “have the soup” are left out in the second clause because the reader can infer them from the first clause. This isn’t about replacing words with different ones (that would be substitution) or pointing back to something with a pronoun (that’s reference) or simply repeating the same words (repetition). Ellipsis focuses on omission when the meaning remains recoverable.