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How to Use Brackets and the Ellipsis. Use Brackets when you add words to a quotation. Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states: "some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale" (78).
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Use Brackets when you add words to a quotation. • Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states: "some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale" (78).
Use an ellipsis to indicate words left out of a direct quotation. • Original quote: "It seemed that he no longer cared about anything. Coya's success and public visibility seemed to sap Andy of his own self-esteem; he felt diminished in the eyes of the community" (Beito 191). • With ellipsis: t seemed that he no longer cared about anything. Coya's success and public visibility seemed to sap Andy of his own self-esteem; [. . .]" (Beito 191).
Use an ellipsis to indicate pauses in discourse often to indicate thought processes. It can be particularly useful in writing dialogue or at the end of a conclusion to indicate that the narrative, for example, goes on indefinitely. • Examples: • Nanette kept pondering her decision . . . and finally decided she had made a mistake. • Harold said, "I'm not certain, but . . ." • And what happened then, well . . .
If the ellipses comes at the end of your sentence, you still need end punctuation, even it is a period. • I listened carefully as the teacher read Lincoln's inaugural address: "Four score and seven years ago ... ."
Practice! • The movie went on and on • The movie went on and on… . • Let's think about if we left anything off of the list did we remember everything? • Let's think about if we left anything off of the list… did we remember everything? • I uh don't know what to say. • I ... uh ... don't know what to say
Practice • Add “Adam” to the quote below: • "The child was left miserably abandoned" (Price 206). • Add “Her” to the quote below: • Espinoza charged her former employer with "falsification of coaching record."
Sources • "Using an Ellipsis." Northland Community & Technical College | Building Futures ... Together. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.northland.cc.mn.us/owl/Ellipsis rules.htm>. • "MLA FORMAT." Union County College Faculty Web Site. Khodabakhshi. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://faculty.ucc.edu/english-khodab/mla_format.htm>.