Ellipsis After To Exercises

Ellipsis after to means leaving out a repeated verb phrase after the word to when the meaning is already clear. Instead of saying "Yes, I would love to come to the party," we normally say "Yes, I would love to." The repeated action, come to the party, is understood from the question. This pattern is common after verbs and expressions such as want to, need to, try to, mean to, be able to, be allowed to, and would love to. Related short refusals such as I'd rather not also leave out a clear repeated action.

Keep the words that show attitude, tense, or contrast, and remove the repeated verb phrase. In negative answers with to, not stays before it: "Her parents told her not to come" becomes "Her parents told her not to." In would rather not, the action after not can also be dropped when the situation is clear. If the listener cannot easily recover the missing action, do not use ellipsis. This exercise practises natural transformations such as "I meant to finish the report" becoming "I meant to."