{"id":3311,"date":"2019-10-22T23:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T05:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=3311"},"modified":"2021-05-13T16:07:51","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T21:07:51","slug":"ellipses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/ellipses\/ellipses\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is an Ellipsis?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Definition:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0An\u00a0ellipsis<\/strong>\u00a0(plural:\u00a0ellipses<\/strong>) is a punctuation mark consisting of three dots.<\/p>\n

Use an ellipsis when omitting a word, phrase, line, paragraph, or more from a quoted passage. Ellipses save space or remove material that is less relevant. They are useful in getting right to the point without delay or distraction:<\/p>\n

Although ellipses are used in many ways, the three-dot method is the simplest. Newspapers, magazines, and books of fiction and nonfiction use various approaches that they find suitable.<\/p>\n

Our\u00a0preference is to enclose the ellipsis with a space on each side.\u00a0Choose a method and be consistent.<\/p>\n

Full quotation:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0“Today, after hours of careful thought, we vetoed the bill.”
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

With ellipsis:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0“Today \u2026 we vetoed the bill.”<\/em><\/code><\/p>\n

Some writers and editors feel that no spaces are necessary.<\/p>\n

Example:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0“Today\u2026we vetoed the bill.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Still others put a space either directly before or directly after the ellipsis.<\/p>\n

Examples:<\/em><\/strong>
\n“Today \u2026we vetoed the bill.”<\/em>
\n“Today\u2026 we vetoed the bill.”<\/em><\/p>\n

A four-dot method and an even more rigorous method used in legal works require fuller explanations that can be found in other reference books.<\/p>\n

Rule 1.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Many writers use an ellipsis whether the omission occurs at the beginning of a sentence, in the middle of a sentence, or between sentences.<\/p>\n

A common way to delete the beginning of a sentence is to follow the opening quotation mark with an ellipsis, plus a bracketed capital letter:<\/p>\n

Example:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0“\u2026 [A]fter hours of careful thought, we vetoed the bill.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Other writers omit the ellipsis in such cases, feeling the bracketed capital letter gets the point across.<\/p>\n

For more on brackets, see\u00a0Parentheses and Brackets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rule 2.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Ellipses can express hesitation, changes of mood, suspense, or thoughts trailing off. Writers also use ellipses to indicate a pause or wavering in an otherwise straightforward sentence.<\/p>\n

Examples:<\/em><\/strong>
\nI don’t know \u2026 I’m not sure.<\/em>
\n<\/em>Pride is one thing, but what happens if she \u2026?<\/em>
\n<\/em>He said, “I \u2026 really don’t \u2026 understand this.”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Definition:\u00a0\u00a0An\u00a0ellipsis\u00a0(plural:\u00a0ellipses) is a punctuation mark consisting of three dots. Use an ellipsis when omitting a word, phrase, line, paragraph, or more from a quoted passage. Ellipses save space or remove material that is less relevant. They are useful in getting right to the point without delay or distraction: Although ellipses are used in many ways, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ellipses"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3311"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4847,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3311\/revisions\/4847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}