English Language & Usage Asked on February 22, 2021
Consider the sentence:
Our son, John, is 15 and our daughter, Mary, 11.
Is it grammatical? I have read such omission of the linking verb (especially is) in a sentence with a compound subject. I wanted to know if the linking verb attaches to both the subjects. Is the above preferred to the more straightforward (and grammatical) construction:
Our son, John, is 15 and our daughter, Mary, is 11.
?
Our son, John, is 15 and our daughter, Mary, __ 11.
Yes: it's grammatical.
This is called 'gapped coordination' (or 'gapping'), which occurs when the middle part of a non-initial coordinate is omitted but recoverable from the corresponding part of the first coordinate.
The gap marked __ is understood by reference to the first coordinate, in this case "is".
I prefer the version without gapping, especially in speech, but usage varies.
Edit: Here's a link to Wiki's article on gapping link
Correct answer by BillJ on February 22, 2021
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