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Ellipsis at the beginning of a sentence

Words that can be left out​

In informal spoken English we often leave out unstressed words at the beginning of a sentence if the meaning is clear without them. Words that can be left out include articles (the, a/an), possessives (my, your, etc), personal pronouns (I, you, etc), auxiliary verbs (am, have, etc) and the preparatory subject there.

  • Car’s running badly. (= The car’s …)
  • Wife’s away. (= My wife’s …)
  • Couldn’t understand a word. (= I couldn’t …)
  • Must dash. (= I must dash.)
  • Won’t work, you know. (= It won’t work …)
  • Seen Joe? (= Have you seen Joe?)
  • Keeping well, I hope? (= You’re keeping well …)
  • Nobody at home. (= There’s nobody at home.)
  • Careful what you say. (= Be careful …)
  • Catch up with you later. (= I’ll catch up …)
  • Leave at half past? (= Should we leave …?)
  • Soon as I wake up, I check my messages. (= As soon as …)

This structure is common in advertisements. Two real examples:

  • Thinking of postgraduate study? Call for a place now. (= Are you thinking …?)
  • Speak a foreign language? Speak it better. (= Do you speak …?)

Unstressed forms of be, will, would, have​

We do not usually drop words so as to begin sentences with unstressed forms of be, will, would or auxiliary have (though this sometimes happens in messages, diary entries and other kinds of very informal writing).

  • I’m coming tomorrow. or Coming tomorrow. (not Am coming tomorrow. Am is not stressed.)
  • I’ll see you soon. or See you soon. (not Will see you soon. Will is not stressed.)
  • Haven’t seen him. (but not Have seen him. Have is not stressed.)

Before pronouns: You ready?​

Auxiliary verbs can be left out before personal pronouns except I and it.

  • You ready? (= Are you ready?)
  • She want something? (= Does she want something?)
  • but not I late? It raining?

Dutch, aren’t you?​

Ellipsis is very common in sentences that have some sort of tag ( (see here), (see here) on the end, especially in British English.

  • Can’t swim, myself.
  • Like a cigar, I do.
  • Dutch, aren’t you?
  • Getting in your way, am I?
  • Going camping, your kids?