# What is the proper use of ellipses in omitting pieces of quoted text? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-use-of-ellipses-in-omitting-pieces-of-quoted-text/506059 "2009-08-11T14:19:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-use-of-ellipses-in-omitting-pieces-of-quoted-text/506059/1 "2009-08-11T14:19:14Z")
I want to quote something in an academic paper but leave a part out. How should it look? A. He said that he was “on a mission to discover a way… to split an atom.” B. He said that he was “on a mission to discover a way […] to split an atom.” C. He said that he was “on a mission to discover a way to split an atom.” D. some other way ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-use-of-ellipses-in-omitting-pieces-of-quoted-text/506059/2 "2009-08-11T14:58:08Z")
A is closest. There should be a space between the ellipsis and the word on either end. Also, when I was a doctoral dissertation copy editor 15 years ago, the accepted style was a space between the periods. So … He said that he was “on a mission to discover a way . . . to split an atom.” Note: If your ellipsis comes at the end of a sentence, you add a fourth period to indicate the end of the sentence, just as you would if there were words there. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-use-of-ellipses-in-omitting-pieces-of-quoted-text/506059/3 "2009-08-11T15:10:01Z")
I would go for B. I was taught that … on it’s own indicated a pause in speech, whereas […] indicated an omissions of words. Having said that, I’d imagine different publishing houses, etc, would have different guidelines. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-use-of-ellipses-in-omitting-pieces-of-quoted-text/506059/4 "2009-08-11T15:21:24Z")
If you’re doing an academic paper I assume you need to follow MLA style. That’s easily searched for. > **[Purdue OWL® - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University](https://owl.purdue.edu/)** > [@](#): > > If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis marks, which are three periods (…) preceded and followed by a space. For example: > > In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that “some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale … and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs” (78). > > NOTE: According to the 6th Edition of the MLA Handbook, brackets are no longer needed around ellipses unless adding brackets would clarify your use of ellipses. For example, if there are ellipsis marks in the quoted author’s work, do not put brackets around them; but do use brackets around ellipsis marks you add, so as to distinguish them from ellipsis marks in the quoted author’s work. Also note that the MLA Style Guide still requires brackets, so it’s probably best practice to follow the MLA manual appropriate to your assignment or publication. You need to doublecheck whether the controlling guide is the MLA Handbook or the MLA Style Guide since they seem to be contradictory. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-use-of-ellipses-in-omitting-pieces-of-quoted-text/506059/5 "2009-08-11T19:37:08Z")
My wife is a former editor for Simon & Schuster. She was taught (and I have always followed) that there should be three dots between segments of text, and four at the end (one of which is the period). No extraneous spaces. So the sentence: _Jack, Jane, Sarah and Jeff went out for lunch together, but decided not to have dessert._ Would become: _Jack…and Jeff went out for lunch together…_ ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-use-of-ellipses-in-omitting-pieces-of-quoted-text/506059/6 "2009-08-11T21:06:51Z")
There are two related questions. One – when do you need to use ellipses to denote elided text? Two – what is the proper formatting for the ellipsis? The second one is easy – it’s whatever the style manual your program uses says to do. The first one’s probably covered in that manual too, but the sacrosanct rule is that if you’re putting something in quotation marks and you’re eliding words that were present in the original, you’ve got to use an ellipsis. Brackets are different, which is why B. is wrong. Brackets mean you’re substituting your word for the original speaker’s word, but that you’re not changing the meaning in relevant part. So you use them for changing tenses, gender, removing proper names, simplifying lists, or other [expletive deleted] like that. The only things that go inside brackets, therefore, are words (or parts of words) that weren’t in the original. Mein gott! Aren’t these things taught in the gymnasia these days? –Cliffy