What is up with the dots? Find ellipses in your packet

Original quote: “The human life span has nearly tripled in the last 200 years, from an average of 30 years to nearly 85 years. If you reach 65 and are healthy, you can expect to live for another 20 years.” With ellipse: “The human life span has nearly tripled… from a average of 30 years to nearly 85 years.” “How…” Violet said, and then stopped. She was still stunned, and it was difficult to finish the sentence “How did you find us so quickly, and how did you get past the doorman, who promised to keep you away from us?” while under the element of surprise. “Where…” Klaus said, and then stopped. He was as stunned as his sister, and he found it impossible to finish the sentence. Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator One his way out the door, he turns to make fun of his brother. You’re going to schoo…oooo…lll. You’re going to schohhooo…ooooo…lllll. Jordan Sonnenblick, Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie

Ellipse … Ellipses is a convention of writing that helps writers and readers more clearly understand written language. Mark omissions (used mostly to shorten a long quote) Add style with pauses and interruptions (“I couldn’t explain I just… I loved her”) Add style by trailing off (“I knew we were both thinking the same thing….”) If it is the last thing in a sentence, add a period (so there are four dots)….

The most common way to use an ellipsis is to show that you’ve omitted words. For example, if you're quoting someone and you want to shorten the quote, you use ellipses to indicate where you've dropped words or sentences. Note: They SHOULD not change the meaning of the quote. Omission Original quote: “The human life span has nearly tripled in the last 200 years, from an average of 30 years to nearly 85 years. If you reach 65 and are healthy, you can expect to live for another 20 years.” With ellipse: “The human life span has nearly tripled… from a average of 30 years to nearly 85 years.”

Style - Pauses and Interruptions He studied the grotesque faces before him. “A puzzle which, if we could fully understand it would bring…truth.” Avi, The Man Who was Poe

Style - Trailing off… And even though we didn’t say it, I knew Lana and I were both thinking the same thing…. Sarah Weeks, My Guy

When to dot and when not to dot To sum up, use ellipses sparingly to indicate pauses, faltering speech or thoughts, and use them to shorten long quotations when necessary, but be sure you don’t change the meaning.quotations