“How to Use Ellipses, Part 1” reviewed the purpose of ellipsis points and demonstrated how to use them within and between quoted sentences. Today’s post explains how to use ellipses between quoted paragraphs. Part 3 will cover ellipses at the beginning and at the end of a quoted sentence. Part 4 will outline ellipsis usage in brackets. And, Part 5 will close the series by discussing ellipses in dialogue.
We’ve got a long way to go, so let’s keep this series moving . . .
How to Use Ellipses between Quoted Paragraphs
General Rule: Omissions between quoted paragraphs are usually represented by a period followed by three ellipses.
The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago) recommends using a period followed by three equally spaced ellipses at the end of the paragraph beginning the omission.1
Original: The shelter volunteer reported, “We cleaned the litter boxes, washed the food bowls, and changed the bedding. Once the chores were finished, we took all of the kittens into the play area for a rousing game of cat and mouse.
“The kittens played for thirty minutes before we gave them a snack and put them to bed. We noticed that this extra playtime helped them relax despite the stressful shelter environment.”
Truncated: The shelter volunteer reported, “We cleaned the litter boxes, washed the food bowls, and changed the bedding. Once the chores were finished, we took all of the kittens into the play area. . . .
“The kittens played for thirty minutes before we gave them a snack and put them to bed. We noticed that this extra playtime helped them relax despite the stressful shelter environment.”
The Associated Press Stylebook (AP) suggests using a period followed by a space and three adjoined (not spaced) ellipses at the end of the paragraph beginning the omission.2
Truncated: The shelter volunteer reported, “We cleaned the litter boxes, washed the food bowls, and changed the bedding. Once the chores were finished, we took all of the kittens into the play area. …
“The kittens played for thirty minutes before we gave them a snack and put them to bed. We noticed that this extra playtime helped them relax despite the stressful shelter environment.”
The current editions of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Modern Language Association’s MLA Handbook don’t address this issue, so follow their guidelines for omissions between sentences, shown in Part 1, when creating omissions between paragraphs.
Please make a point to come back soon for “How to Use Ellipses, Part 3: Ellipses at the Beginning and End of Quoted Sentences.”
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1. The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 13.56.
2. The Associated Press Stylebook 2019 (New York: Associated Press, 2019), 325–26.
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