Whats an ellipsis?
An ellipsis (plural: ellipses, pronounced e-lip’-sees) indicates words left out. An ellipsis consists of three spaced periods or, if text omitted includes the end of of one or more sentences, four spaced periods. (The word ellipsis is not to be confused with “ellipse,” meaning oval.) For example, if a journalist were to quote, with omissions, the song “Over the Rainbow,” he or she might write: “Somewhere, over the rainbow. . . there’s a land that I heard of . . . . why, then, oh why can’t I?” The first ellipsis consists of three periods because the omitted words are all within one sentence. The second adds a period to indicate that at least one period occurs within the omitted portion. A common misuse of the ellipsis is to indicate a pause, with no words omitted, as in, “The audience waited expectantly . . . then the singer appeared.” Such pauses can be created, correctly, in other ways, in writing. top Tip #16 March, 2002 Misplaced modifiers What’s wrong with this sentence? “Reading o
