Identification of substitution and Ellipsis in Leo Tolstoy’s short story by English Language major students

Abstract

This study is based on the results of the research which aimed (1) to identify the cohesive devices used by Leo Tolstoy in A grain as Big as a Hen’s Egg as proposed by Halliday & Hasan and (2) to find whether substitution and ellipsis from the same story could be identified by the seven English Major students doing the Discourse Analysis Course during the final assessment after being taught The research followed descriptive quality method and there was also a small quantitative method comparing the actual and identified substitution and ellipsis devices. The results of the research show that the ellipsis ‘substitution by zero’ Halliday & Hasan (1976: 142),  is dominant in A grain as Big as a Hen’s Egg, the short story in which the devices form aesthetically Tolstoy’s lucid and succinct style, which makes the parable clear to all who read it. Ellipsis is so imbibed in communication that ESL learners could identify it better than substitutions.