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I came across a sentence in a manga I'm reading but I'm not sure exactly what
these words mean. The sentence reads as follows:

> 点滴ってことは...栄養が足りてなかったってことか？

Context: A guy's friend is in the hospital and asks this after a nurse
explains the treatment they're giving to his friend.

My translation was:

> "The intravenous drip means she wasn't getting enough nutrition?"

I used Google translate to get an idea of what it said but I really want to
understand the role that ってことは and ってことか play here.
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2022-01-18T15:32:23.183
93001
2022-01-20T05:13:27.763
2022-01-18T17:06:26.563
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question
meaning manga
What is the meaning of ってことは and ってことか in these sentences?
Essentially the linked answer answers the question, it is an instance of
'AということはBということか？'='(I suppose) The fact A should mean another fact B', where
という is contracted to って.

The twist may be that the predicate is implicit after 点滴.

The sentence can be

  * （彼が）点滴（をしている）ってことは…栄養が足りてなかったってことか?

What can be dropped depends on contexts. Some other examples:

  * Macってことは, Safariか If he is using a Mac, then it is likely that he is using Safari. (Context: The speaker tries to guess which browser is being used, upon knowing which OS the user is using.)

  * 太郎が店番ってことは、花子は留守か I see Taro at the register, so Hanko is not at home. (Context: The speaker knows Hanako is usually sitting at the register and that Taro takes over when she is not available; here the first part and the second part have different subjects, so 太郎が can't be omitted).
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-20T05:13:27.763
93021
2022-01-20T05:13:27.763
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answer