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Textual ellipsis occurs in writing and speaking. We leave out words when we can understand everything in a sentence because of the surrounding text (from context). Textual ellipsis often occurs after . and, but. and . or. We omit a repeated subject. If the auxiliary verb is repeated, we can also omit that . Note the omissions in brackets [...].
Ellipsis happens when we leave out (in other words, when we don’t use) items which we would normally expect to use in a sentence if we followed the grammatical rules. The following examples show ellipsis.
What Is an Ellipsis? An ellipsis is a punctuation mark made up of three dots (...). An ellipsis is used: To show an omission of a word or words (including whole sentences) from a text. To create a pause for effect. To show an unfinished thought. To show a trail off into silence. Test Time!
Do you know how to leave out words to make your English sound more natural? Test what you know about ellipsis with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.
Use ellipses when the quotation ends with a parenthetical reference (such as a page number, a name, or a title), and follow the ellipses with the ending quotation, citation, and period. Example: “We know that Leonardo’s interest in Euclidian geometry developed during his years in Milan . . .” (91).
An ellipsis (plural: ellipses) is a punctuation mark consisting of three dots. Use an ellipsis when omitting a word, phrase, line, paragraph, or more from a quoted passage. Ellipses save space or remove material that is less relevant.
Rule #5: Ellipsis at the End of a Sentence. When an ellipsis is used at the end of a sentence, it can be followed by a period, question mark, or exclamation point. However, if the sentence ends without any punctuation, the ellipsis serves as the final punctuation. For example: “I can’t believe he…” Final Thoughts on Ellipses
