I'm coming from a Max background. In Max you have the points, edges, polys and then volume select... Is there a volume select feature in Maya; the one similar to 3d's Max?
You can also select a component of the mesh section you'd like to select, and select>convert Selection>to shell. I have it set to a shortcut, for ease. Or, for faces, you can just double click on any one in the mesh, and it'll select the entire current shell.
Is element like... you have a mesh that is made up of two disconnected shells, then element select click on one would select that complete shell but not the other? In Maya you generally make this by using "grow selection" until the whole shell is selected.
Looks like the surface select option under Soft Selection gives me the same results as element selection in Max. (as long as I crank the falloff to 100%) I'm assuming this is how you'd do it in Maya?