Ellipses: Omitting Portions of a Quote
To omit certain portions
of a quote (doesn’t fit your point), use an ellipsis enclosed in brackets: [. . .]
*When you are finished,
the sentence should still be grammatically correct and still make sense. You also cannot alter the author’s intended
meaning!
Page 608, ¶8:
*We learn of the harmful
effects of gambling when Gold and Ferrell reveal that “[c]ompulsive
gambling has been linked to child abuse, domestic violence, [. . .] and a host
of other criminal and social ills” (608).
Beginning: No [. . .] if removed portion is at beginning of quote
*Gold and Ferrell reveal
the severity of the financial devastation caused by gambling: “[E]mbezzlement, bogus insurance claims, bankruptcies, [and]
welfare fraud [. . .]” (608).
End:
·
If omission is at the
end of your sentence and there is no citation (author in text, source TV/radio,
etc.), put your period after bracket but before quotation marks: [. . .].”
·
If there is a citation,
put final period after it: [. . .]” (608).
An entire sentence or more:
A. If you take out
material at the end of a sentence and then
a sentence or more: [. . .].
Page 608, ¶6:
We see the escalation of
this problem when we learn that “[n]ever before have bettors blown so much
money—a whopping $50.9 billion last year [. . .]. A substantial share of those gambling losses
[. . .] pours from the pockets and purses of chronic losers hooked on the
adrenaline rush of risking their money [. . .]” (Gold 608).
B. If you take out a sentence and/or sentences
and then the beginning of a sentence: . [. . .]
Page 612, ¶39
The lure of the possible
win and the inability to let it go is revealed when we learn that “[a]t