44f Ellipses

Ellipses, or ellipsis points, are three equally spaced dots. Ellipses usually indicate that something has been omitted from a quoted passage, but they can also signal a pause or hesitation in speech in the same way that a dash can.

Indicating omissions

Just as you should carefully use quotation marks around any material that you quote directly from a source, so you should carefully use ellipses to indicate that you have left out part of a quotation that otherwise appears to be a complete sentence.

The ellipses in the following example indicate two omissions—one in the middle of the sentence and one at the end. When you omit the last part of a quoted sentence, add a period after the ellipses, for a total of four dots. Be sure a complete sentence comes before and after the four points. If you are adding your own ellipses to a quotation that already has other ellipses, enclose yours in brackets.

ORIGINAL TEXT

image The quasi-official division of the population into three economic classes called high-, middle-, and low-income groups rather misses the point, because as a class indicator the amount of money is not as important as the source.

– Paul Fussell, “Notes on Class”

WITH ELLIPSES

image As Paul Fussell argues, “The quasi-official division of the population into three economic classes…rather misses the point….”

If your shortened quotation ends with a source (such as a page number, a name, or a title), follow these steps:

  1. Use three ellipsis points but no period after the quotation.
  2. Add the closing quotation mark, closed up to the third ellipsis point.
  3. Add the source documentation in parentheses.
  4. Use a period to indicate the end of the sentence.

image Packer argues, “The Administration is right to reconsider its strategy…” (34).

Indicating hesitation

image Then the voice, husky and familiar, came to wash over us—“The winnah, and still heavyweight champeen of the world…Joe Louis.”

– Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings