sluicing (n.)

A term sometimes used in SYNTAX for a type of ELLIPSIS, in which an INTERROGATIVE item is interpreted as a complete question, the omitted material being retrieved from the previous discourse. The DELETION leaves a WH-phrase, as in Somebody just left. Guess who. Cases where the existential QUANTIFIER some is the ANTECEDENT are called sprouting, as in He ate. I don’t know what.