ABSTRACT
As the intention is to present a descriptive analysis of the constructions concerned, the approach will be neutral in terms of syntactic model, observations being couched rather in terms of traditional grammatical theory. However, it is impossible to avoid the use of certain terms which may appear inextricably linked with
particular theoretical approaches. This is particularly the case with regard to the term 'deletion'. Nevertheless, I intend to use this term as a convenient label for the consistent relationships which exist between sentence types, following Stassen (1985: 21): 'when I use the term "deletion" it should not be inferred that I claim that a specific procedure of string-derivation by means of deletion rules should be part of a grammar.' My use of the term 'deletion' will correspond broadly to the more traditional term 'ellipsis'.
