An ellipsis is the three-dot mark (…) used to show omitted words or a thought that pauses or trails off. The plural is ellipses. When you shorten a quotation, the mark tells readers that something has been removed; it does not give you permission to change what the speaker meant.
For everyday editing, first decide whether you are cutting an existing passage or writing a pause into your own sentence. Those two jobs can look alike on the page, but they need different checks. All quotation examples below are invented for this guide.
How does an ellipsis show omitted words?
Suppose you are preparing a short event recap from a longer interview. Keep the exact words you need in their original order and place an ellipsis where you remove a passage within the quotation.
Original: “The afternoon session, which included a tour of the printing room, gave visitors time to ask questions.”
Shortened: “The afternoon session … gave visitors time to ask questions.”
The shortened version removes the detail about the tour while preserving the statement about questions. The remaining words are still the speaker’s words. If you replace “gave visitors time” with “encouraged visitors,” you have rewritten the wording as well as shortened it. An ellipsis alone cannot account for that change.
Choose the excerpt around its purpose. In a recap about audience participation, the shorter version may work. In an account of what the session included, removing the tour could hide precisely the detail readers need.
Which words should you leave in?
Pay particular attention to conditions, negatives and limits. A fluent sentence can still misrepresent the original.
Original: “The new booking form is easier to navigate, although the confirmation screen still needs work.”
Misleading excerpt: “The new booking form is easier to navigate …”
If presented as an overall verdict that the form is ready, this excerpt suppresses the speaker’s reservation. Keep the qualification or choose another passage. The problem is the impression created, not simply the presence or absence of three dots.
Original: “We can open the exhibition on Friday if the final labels arrive.”
Keep the condition: “We can open the exhibition on Friday if the final labels arrive.”
Sometimes the best edit is no cut at all. Removing “if the final labels arrive” turns a possibility into a firm plan. Read the source and excerpt side by side before approving a shortened quotation.
What about pauses and unfinished thoughts?
In your own dialogue or informal prose, an ellipsis can suggest hesitation or an unfinished thought: “I thought the spare key was …” Here the speaker trails off; an editor has not necessarily removed any words.
A pause inside a sentence can sound different: “Well … perhaps we should check the cupboard first.” Use that effect deliberately. In a practical email, a direct sentence such as “Please check the cupboard first” is usually easier to act on.
When quoting text that already contains an ellipsis, keep track of whether the mark belongs to the source or to your edit. The Australian Government Style Manual calls for an “ellipsis in original” note in square brackets after the quotation when the source supplied the mark.
Do you use three dots or four?
The ellipsis itself has three dots. A fourth dot, where a style requires one, is a separate sentence-ending period. Do not add extra dots just because a pause feels longer.
Australian Government convention: use the ellipsis character (…) with surrounding spaces where words continue on both sides. Its guidance does not allow a full stop, comma or semicolon after an ellipsis. A closing example is: The editor wrote, ‘I have checked the headings …’
Microsoft convention: Microsoft’s ellipsis guidance uses spaces around an omission within a sentence. When omitted text ends a quoted sentence, it calls for a space before the ellipsis and a closing period immediately after it. Example: The editor wrote, “I have checked the headings ….”
These closing examples follow different named conventions. They are not interchangeable rules to combine in one document. Microsoft also permits three unspaced periods when a font lacks the ellipsis character; the Australian guide specifies the character itself. Follow the style required for the publication you are editing.
What should you check before sharing the excerpt?
Confirm that the retained words match the source, the removed words do not change the message, and the punctuation follows one chosen style. Keep enough surrounding context to establish what the speaker was discussing. If the excerpt needs several cuts to make sense, consider selecting a shorter intact passage.
For the marks around an excerpt, see quotation marks and punctuation. For a different kind of sentence break, see the dash and hyphen guide. A three-dot menu in an app is a separate interface context, commonly offering more options.
If you want a desk reference, browse copyediting style guides on Amazon. Choose a guide suited to your publication rather than mixing conventions from several books.
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