In English grammar, it’s common to omit the subject in a second main declarative clause when the subject is obvious or the same as the first clause. This is often done to avoid repetition and make sentences more concise.
For example, consider the sentence: “I went to the store and I bought some apples.” The subject “I” in the second clause is the same as in the first clause, so it can be omitted: “I went to the store and bought some apples.”
This rule applies when the two clauses are closely related and it’s clear that the subject of the second clause is the same as the first. However, if there’s any chance of confusion or ambiguity, it’s better to include the subject in both clauses. For example, in a sentence like “John talked to Mary and he left,” omitting “he” could lead to confusion about who left, so it’s better to keep it.
The point about sequencing in these examples is that the two clauses are connected by the word “and”, which implies that the actions happened in a specific order.
For example, in the sentence “I opened the door and stepped inside”, the action of opening the door happened before the action of stepping inside. This is because opening the door is a necessary precursor to stepping inside.
Similarly, in the sentence “She finished her homework and went to bed”, the action of finishing homework happened before the action of going to bed. This is because it is generally not possible to go to bed before finishing homework.
Expert example:
He moves to another state without telling me,
he doesn’t write or call me for over a month,
and basically has me disinherited.
The use of “or” between “write” and “call” in the above example implies that he doesn’t do either of these actions. In other words, he neither writes to nor calls the speaker for over a month. This usage adds to the speaker’s sense of abandonment and neglect, reinforcing the severity of his actions.
PELIC student example:
I watched TV and washed my clothes.
Korean, Female, Level 3, Writing Class.
However, two verbs can be connected with more complexity:
how things went.
You were married?
Just for about a year,
give or take a few days.
you‘re not going to let me use the bathroom
or make a call, or give me a bus fare?
A search in iWeb for:
and|or _VV
shows that “or” is a lot less common before an omitted subject:
1 AND MAKE 947288
2 AND GET 915860
3 AND SEE 672271
4 AND USE 569929
5 AND TAKE 511574
6 AND LET 444534
7 AND PUT 409189
8 AND KEEP 391772
9 AND GO 388592
10 AND GIVE 357897
11 AND SAID 345582
12 AND HELP 345435
13 AND MADE 326424
14 AND FIND 316841
15 AND WORK 313888
16 AND PROVIDE 308626
17 AND ENJOY 300029
18 AND SUPPORT 298568
19 AND TRY 297018
20 AND START 274483
21 AND ADD 274363
22 AND FOUND 273423
23 AND SET 268405
24 AND LOOK 260590
25 AND FEEL 238001
26 AND MAKING 237741
27 AND CLICK 236803
28 AND CREATE 231805
29 AND GOT 225847
30 AND LEARN 225223
31 AND ASK 216876
32 AND WENT 200121
33 AND GETTING 196845
34 AND SAY 196573
35 AND WANT 193703
36 AND USING 184578
37 AND MAKES 184052
38 AND PLAY 177964
39 AND TOOK 175701
40 AND PROVIDES 174767
41 AND LEAVE 172005
42 AND USED 170790
43 AND RUN 170401
44 AND WORKING 165988
45 AND ALLOW 165074
46 AND BRING 164198
47 AND IMPROVE 163976
48 AND MOVE 162913
49 AND SAVE 162389
50 AND PLACE 162388
51 OR USE 161678
The following example is considered B1:
if you and your friend would stay in here
or use the backdoor when he arrives.
There were no other “or” examples in the top 100 results, so we did another search for:
or_CC _VV
1 OR USE 162146
2 OR TAKE 105427
3 OR MAKE 103048
4 OR CALL 102223
5 OR GET 97646
6 OR GO 84861
7 OR VISIT 63839
8 OR USING 62761
9 OR CHANGE 50667
10 OR GIVE 47867
11 OR ADD 47629
12 OR WANT 45391
13 OR CREATE 45100
14 OR CONTACT 44978
15 OR WORK 44118
16 OR NEED 42891
17 OR TRY 40849
18 OR REMOVE 40032
19 OR SEND 39107
20 OR FIND 38979