The sentence is not elliptical because it leaves out || omits something which || that we mean || think when we utter it, but because it is shortened || abbreviated, in comparison || as compared with a particular standard of our grammar. – One might here make the objection: “You admit that the shortened || abbreviated and the unshortened || unabbreviated sentence have the same meaning. What || Well, what meaning have they then? || ? Is there not || Isn't there one verbal || an expression for this meaning?” – But doesn't the || their identical meaning of the sentences consist in their having the same application || use? (In Russian they say “stone red” instead of “the stone is red”; is the copula left out of the meaning for them || don't they get the full meaning, as they leave out the copula? or do they think the copula || it to themselves without pronouncing it? –)