Page 144 - IELTS Preparation Grammar and Vocab

20 Substitution and ellipsis

al Substitution: so + auxiliary verb + subject; neither, nor, not ... either

'Was diving as difficult as you expected?' Perhaps even more so.' (so = difficult; replaces an adjective)
Trans World Adventures provides all the equipment - at least! presume so. (so = TransWorld Adventures
provides all the equipment; replaces a clause)

We can use so instead of a clause after certain verbs to do with opinions (e.g. expect, suppose, think), but not
after others (e.g. accept, know, be sure, hear):
Will I be met at the airport?"I expect so.'
'The monies are really bad at that time of year."I've heard that, too: (not Poe-heard-sort-Ise)
Some verbs are commonly used before not or in not... so in short, negative replies:
You won't need a sleeping bag if it's really hot: 'I suppose not: or 'No, I don't suppose so:
Other verbs like this include appear, seem; believe, expect, imagine, think. (With the last four verbs we prefer
not ... so in informal contexts):
'Do you think I'll need to take a tent?' I don't imagine so: or formally'! imagine not'
Before not we can use be afraid (= showing regret), assume, guess, hope, presume, suspect
'Do they offer any holidays in Africa?' I'm afraid not: (not Vol-ftet-afraid-50;
We can use so + auxiliary verb + subject to say that a second person does the same thing as a person already
mentioned. In the negative we use neither, nor or not ... either
'I'd like to go to Tasmania,' So would I.'
'I'm not really a very good swimmer: 'No, neither am I. or 'Nor am I: or 'I'm not either.' or 'I'm not a very good
swimmer either.'

BEI Substitution: do so
We can use a form of do so to replace a verb and the word or phrase that follows it to complete its meaning
When asked whether they intended to offer holidays in Africa, Trans World Adventures said they had no plans to
do so. (do so = offer holidays in Africa)
He planned to go to Australia this year, but now that he has lost his job he has little chance of doing so. (doing so =
going to Australia)
We can use do so where the verb describes an action, but avoid it with verbs that describe states and habitual
actions:
We went down the river by boat, and saw a lot of wildlife while doing so
Some people didn't enjoy the hard work, but I did. (not but-l-did-so
Less formally, we use do it or do that with a similar meaning
We put up our tents by the side of the river. We did that at about four o'clock every afternoon. or formally
We did so ...
We use do (rather than do so) in informal English, especially after modals or perfect tenses (but note that we can
often leave it out):
'Do they provide all the equipmentr 'They should (do):
'Could you have gone to Thailand instead?"Yes, I could have (done):

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