judgments of some English sentences on Ellipsis
1) John put everything he could __in his mouth.
2) John finds everyone that Bill does __easy to work with.
3) John made every student that Bil did__take an extra exam.

For the above three sentences, some words are omitted in the place marked with a line. Would some English native speaker possibly tell me the exact words that are omitted? For example, does sentence 1) mean
a) John put everything he could put in his mouth.
or
b) John put everything he could put in his mouth, in his mouth

Of course if you are not sure about the question itself, please contact me. Thank you.

Question

judgments of some English sentences on Ellipsis
1) John put everything he could __in his mouth.
2) John finds everyone that Bill does __easy to work with.
3) John made every student that Bil did__take an extra exam.

For the above three sentences, some words are omitted in the place marked with a line. Would some English native speaker possibly tell me the exact words that are omitted? For example, does sentence 1) mean
a) John put everything he could put in his mouth.
or
b) John put everything he could put in his mouth, in his mouth

Of course if you are not sure about the question itself, please contact me. Thank you.

Answer

1) John put everything he could *eat* in his mouth.
2) John finds everyone that Bill does not like, easy to work with.
3) John made every student that Bil did like, take an extra exam.

Guesses.
I find these things hard to do, I empathise with you lingua.

Answer

1) John put everything he could __in his mouth.
2) John finds everyone that Bill does __easy to work with.
3) John made every student that Bil did__take an extra exam.

The words are not omitted. This is not a case of ellipsis. You can add another word to the sentences without changing the meaning.
#1. eat
#2. very
#3. also

Alternatively:
1) John put everything he could put in his mouth.
2) John finds everyone that Bill finds easy to work with.
3) John made every student that Bill made take an extra exam.

Answers · 4

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