Ellipsis to mark omissions from quoted material

Ellipsis to mark omissions from quoted material

by Shannon Temple

​Use ellipsis (...) to mark omissions from quoted materials and pauses in a written passage.

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​Example: "Jack and Jill went up the hill, to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down...and Jill came tumbling after."

Multiple Choice

The guests who visited the school on Thursday afternoon were impressed by the way the students acted.   

If you wanted to omit the underlined portion of this text, which of the following would be the correct way to do so?

• "The guests (were impressed by the way the students acted. )"

• "The guests were impressed...by the way the students acted. "

• "The guests...were impressed by the way the students acted."

• "The guests were impressed by the way the students acted..."

Multiple Choice

The parade had fancy cars, floats, and clowns who threw candy to the children.

Which of the following correctly omits the underlined part of this sentence?

• "The parade had fancy cars, floats, and clowns..."

• "The parade...had fancy cars, floats, and clowns."

• "...The parade had fancy cars, floats, and clowns who threw candy to the children"

• "The parade had...fancy cars, floats, and clowns. "

Multiple Choice

Original:  “Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words?”

Quote:  "Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! … Was there anything so real as words?"

How many sentences from the original text were omitted?

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4