Sometimes, you need to pause and think, even in writing. An ellipsis (…) is a punctuation mark that can be used to indicate a break or distance in a passage of text. Ellipses are used for both formal and creative writing to indicate to the reader that something is missing. Follow these steps and add ellipsis effectively to your writing.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Using Ellipsis
Step 1. Define your goal using the ellipsis
There are two main ways to use the ellipsis. One of them is to indicate that a quote has been abbreviated. The other, to indicate a pause or slowing down, usually in speech.
- You must be careful not to change the meaning of the quote when replacing text with an ellipsis. Only use the ellipsis to abbreviate the quote if the omitted part is redundant and does not change the meaning.
- Use ellipsis only to indicate pauses or weakening of speech in creative or casual writing. This method should not be used in formal writing (eg essay assignments) because it will seem lazy and even indifferent.
Step 2. Reduce the block quote length
One reason for using ellipsis is to shorten quotes that are so long that they need to be trimmed with increased margins, or “blocked.” Block citations may be omitted, unless all words have significant meaning for the purpose of the paper.
- For MLA format, block quotes if they consist of more than four lines (for prose) or three lines (for poetry).
- For APA format, citations are blocked if they consist of 40 words or more.
- For the Chicago format, citations are blocked if they are 100 words or more.
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For example, here is a quote that is long enough to block, but uses an ellipsis to fit into the essay without having to be truncated as a block quote:
- Asli: “It was the best time, as well as the worst time. A time of wisdom, as well as a time of ignorance. The age of faith, as well as the age of doubt. The season of light, as well as the season of Darkness. The spring of hope, and the winter of despair. We have it all before us, and we don't have it all. We all go straight to Heaven, at the same time go to another age. In short, those times were so exactly like today, That some of the noisiest authorities insist on being accepted, for good or for evil, only in the best degree of comparison.” --Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
- With the ellipsis: “It was the best of times, as well as the worst of times … for both good and evil, only in the best degree of comparison.” --Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Step 3. Get to the point
Another reason writers abbreviate a citation is to discard irrelevant information. The citation may not be long enough to block, but if the citation contains information that will distract the reader, the author can discard the information.
- If you're a journalist with a word limit, it's very useful to get rid of parts of the quote that don't add to the meaning of the article.
- If you want to omit the first part of a sentence because it doesn't add meaning, start the quote with an ellipsis, followed by a sentence beginning with a lowercase letter.
- For example, we might abbreviate the last phrase of the Charles Dickens quote used just now with an early and middle ellipsis: "… in short, those times were so exactly like today, That some of the noisiest authorities insist on being accepted … only in the best degree of comparison." --Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
- However, the introduction of the ellipsis is not required if you are using the MLA format.
Step 4. Pause or slow down your speech
If you are writing for informal work, such as creative writing, it is perfectly fine to express the thoughts, doubts, fears, and other emotions of the character. Ellipsis also generates tension when the character's speech slows down because his thoughts are not finished.
- You can use the ellipsis in personal writing, such as informal emails or diary entries. In this case, the ellipsis indicates that your mind is wandering.
- You can also use the ellipsis technique to indicate a character's thoughts are floating, and not just during dialogue.
- For example, if you want to make a character in the story pause, write, “I was running … but then fell.”
- To show your character's thoughts are floating, write, "I'm running…"
Method 2 of 3: Abbreviating Quotations
Step 1. Choose a part of the quote
While the choice of which part of the citation to abbreviate is the author's editorial authority (up to the author), you should be careful not to change the meaning of the abbreviated citation.
- To make sure you don't change the meaning of the quote, choose words that are not needed to understand the quote.
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Leave the verb and subject of the quote alone, but take words that the reader already understands. In other words, feel free to get rid of redundant or repetitive phrases.
- As an example, we return to the Charles Dickens quote. This time, in the novel “Our Mutual Friend”: “I can't help myself; It has nothing to do with reason; My love for her defies reason.”
- After the redundant sentence is discarded, this quote becomes: "I can't help myself… My love for her defies reason."
Step 2. Study the quote to be abbreviated
Write out the full citation and determine which parts are not needed. Then, block or use a pencil to select those words and phrases. Read the words you marked strongly.
- If you can notice the meaning of the quote has changed, work on the marked words or phrases until the abbreviated quote has a similar meaning to the original.
- For example, if you work on the quote above, the words marked for disposal: "I can't help myself; Nothing to do with reason; My love for him defies reason."
Step 3. Create an ellipsis
Once you have studied the quote and selected the passages to omit, replace the words with ellipsis.
- If the omitted section causes the citation's grammar to be incorrect, add additional words or phrases that bridge the gaps in square brackets after the ellipsis.
- For example, the result might be something like this: "He plays in the sun … [but] he hates it."
Step 4. Add a period when deleting a sentence
If you've decided to delete the rest of the sentence or the entire sentence, you'll need the dot after the ellipsis. The ellipsis will look like it has four dots.
- Remember that the ellipsis consists of only three dots. The fourth dot marks the end of the sentence.
- Begin the next section of the quote with a capital letter if it is the beginning of a new sentence.
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For example, if you quote from the same passage as Dickens's quote in this method, the sentence we used earlier will be taken and the abbreviated quote will look like this:
To illuminate [human justice] with the light of a stone hallway, steps, brown window blinds, and a black man… What an abuse of money, and imagine its wasted value
Method 3 of 3: Marking Pause
Step 1. Choose a place to insert the ellipsis
To determine the location of the ellipsis in informal or creative writing, ask yourself: Would you like to include an ellipsis to indicate the passage of time, or unfinished thoughts?
Step 2. Mark the passage of time
One way to use the ellipsis as a pause is when you want to describe the passage of time without using words. This ellipsis often appears in the middle of a sentence.
- Insert an ellipsis between the two words where the pause occurs.
- The elapsed time can be very short, even almost a moment, for example in this sentence: “I um … thinking about you today.”
- The elapsed time can also be very long, for example daily or weekly, as in this sentence: "Two weeks later … finally the news about the job came out of the boss' mouth."
- Ellipses used to express the passage of time can often be replaced with “and then.”
Step 3. Indicate unfinished thoughts
When a piece of dialogue or thought is said to be “floating,” it means that the thought is not finished. Use the ellipsis to express thoughts that are not finished at the end of the sentence.
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Insert an ellipsis after the last word to float at the end of the sentence.
“I was thinking of you today…”
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If the ellipsis occurs at the end of a sentence that should end with a question mark or exclamation point, place it after the ellipsis.
“Are you thinking about me too, today…?”
