How to Use Ellipsis Marks

By eHow Education Editor

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Ellipsis marks are a set of three periods that indicate dropped words or a dropped thought within a sentence. Knowing their grammar rules gives you more options when you quote and also allows you to create effects in your writing with them.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Step1

Write ellipsis marks correctly by writing them as a set of three periods, each separated from the material around them by a space. If the ellipsis marks come at the end of a sentence, you still need to end the sentence with a period after the ellipses.

Step2

Alert readers to the fact that you've dropped material from a quote by using ellipsis marks. You don't need to do this if you've dropped material from the beginning or end of a quote, but you do need to when you drop material from the middle of the quote. The sentence must still follow grammar rules when you add ellipsis marks.

Step3

Show that you've dropped one or more paragraphs in a long quotation or reprinted article by including ellipsis marks at the end of the preceding paragraph. The ellipses go after the last punctuation mark.

Step4

Use ellipsis marks to indicate a pause or interruption of a thought or a pause in a sentence's flow. This is especially useful for recording dialogue or for creating a stylistic effect within your sentence.

Tips & Warnings

You may need to use ellipsis marks at the beginning of a quote if it's not clear that you've dropped material from the quote's beginning. For example, if the first word in the quote is a proper noun and the quote functions as an independent clause, you should use ellipses at the beginning of the quote for clarity. The ellipsis marks go inside the quotation marks.
When you use ellipses to indicate that you've removed some material from a quote, your sentence must retain the exact meaning of the original sentence.
If you're writing according to a specific style such as APA or MLA, check your style guide for use of ellipsis marks. Though the basic grammar is the same, there are slight differences among styles when using ellipses in quotes.