Saturday, June 10, 2017

ellipsis - Why doesn't the clause "....and reputation its shadow" need a verb?


The clause "reputation its shadow" in "Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow" has no verb, but is still correct. Please kindly tell me the grammar point used here!



Answer



It is a shortened expression. Instead of using "is" two times, one shortly after the other, the second "is" is dropped and the meaning does not become unclear. Read the sentence as:


Character is like a tree and reputation (is) its shadow.


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