Help with ellipses

[vbs]

If I use an ellipsis after a full sentence, should I not punctuate the sentence preceding the ellipsis with a period? To me, that makes perfect sense since I am telling you nothing else follows for that thought.

"If I were you, I would hold off on buying a house. .... Once you are older and have settled down, you can consider that."


Or

"If I were you, I would hold off on buying a house ... Once you are older and have settled down, you can consider that."

To me, the second sentence gives the impression that I elided words from the first thought, which is fine if that's what I actually intended to do.

 

[probus]

I don't see any ellipsis in your examples. What has been omitted? Your first example reads perfectly without the ...

If you really want to make it one sentence, replace the period (full stop) with a semi-colon: buying a house; once you are.

 

[Raymott]

If I use an ellipsis after a full sentence, should I not punctuate the sentence preceding the ellipsis with a period? To me, that makes perfect sense since I am telling you nothing else follows for that thought.

If nothing else follows the thought, why do you need an ellipsis?

"If I were you, I would hold off on buying a house. Once you are older and have settled down, you can consider that."


Or

"If I were you, I would hold off on buying a house ... Once you are older and have settled down, you can consider that."

If this is one sentence, "once" should not be capitalised.

To me, the second sentence gives the impression that I elided words from the first thought, which is fine if that's what I actually intended to do.

I don't see why you're even considering an ellipsis here. What have you ellipsed?

If you do end a sentence with an ellipsis, you do it like this....

 

[vbs]

I am using that as an example. So let's pretend there was a sentence in between that was omitted. For the sake of the actual question, if it helps, pretend I elided the following sentence. "You're far too young and mobile right now."

 

[vbs]

FYI, guys, this is not about an actual sentence I am having problems with, so don't let the example itself distract you. It may not have been the best example, but the real question is about punctuating with ellipses, particularly in quotes.

 

[vbs]

OK, I see I'm going to have to find a different example, because what I asked isn't actually being addressed. I am specifically talking about quotes. So, I'll find a real one, elide a sentence and then let you choose between the two.

Full quote:

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity."

I am eliding the second sentence. Choose between the following examples.

A) "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. ... It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity."

B) "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation ... It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity."

Since the first sentence was written in its entirety, I feel A), which has the period, is correct. Is that right or wrong?

 

[Raymott]

FYI, guys, this is not about an actual sentence I am having problems with, so don't let the example itself distract you. It may not have been the best example, but the real question is about punctuating with ellipses, particularly in quotes.

Well, I've told you.
1. If you do end a sentence with an ellipsis, you do it like this.... Then you leave a space and start your new sentence.
2. More commonly, if you leave something out ... you use a simple three dot ellipsis.

There are pages like this that might help you generally:
Grammar Girl : Ellipses :: Quick and Dirty Tips ?
Ellipsis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Note there are different publishing styles, related to spacing. When I ellipse something out from a quote, I use [...] to mean that ellipsis wasn't there in the original. Wiki deals with this.

 

[Rover_KE]

A newspaper report would typically render the shortened form as:

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. [It] came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity."

 

[vbs]

Thanks, guys.

 

[Rover_KE]

Your appreciation is welcome, vbs, but there is no need to write a new post to say thank you. Simply click the Like button on any posts you found helpful. It means that we don't have to open the thread again to read your new post and then find that it doesn't include any new information or an additional question.​

 

[susiedq]

Would this be accepted?

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation . . . a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves . . . to end the long night of their captivity."

 

[5jj]

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation . . . a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves . . . to end the long night of their captivity."

I'd use [...] there.

 

[Rover_KE]

I'd use [...] there.

Definitely.

As Raymott said in post #7, susiedq, the brackets show that the ellipses weren't there in the original but are editorially elliding actual words of the author.

If you are the author of the text, then it's fine to write 'As I said in one of my lectures in 2012, "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation...a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves...to end the long night of their captivity."