he was in the lion-house of the Zoo, would be less likely to assent to
‘Anyhow, it is commodious as a college building.’
A more obvious instance of elliptical phraseology arises if the expositor should address the recipient with the remark,
‘That criminal is your friend.’
The recipient might answer,
‘He is my friend and you are insulting.’
Here the recipient assumes that the phrase ‘That criminal’ is elliptical and not merely demonstrative. In fact, pure demonstration is impossible though it is the ideal of thought. This practical impossibility of pure demonstration is a difficulty which arises in the communication of thought and in the retention of thought. Namely, a proposition about a particular factor in nature can neither be expressed to others nor retained for repeated consideration without the aid of auxiliary complexes which are irrelevant to it.
I now pass to descriptive phrases. The expositor says,
‘A college in Regent’s Park is commodious.’
The recipient knows Regent’s Park well. The phrase ‘A college in Regent’s Park’ is descriptive for him. If its phraseology is not elliptical, which in ordinary life it certainly will be in some way or other, this proposition simply means,
‘There is an entity which is a college building in Regent’s Park and is commodious.’
If the recipient rejoins,
‘The lion-house in the Zoo is the only commodious building in Regent’s Park,’
he now contradicts the expositor, on the assumption that a lion-house in a Zoo is not a college building.
