Ellipses (three dots) replace words you are
not quoting—when the quotation is too lengthy or when your point
is less apparent with the intervening words included.
The hottest investment in Japan may well be . . .
real estate.
An ellipsis can also cause a dramatic pause
in an ordinary sentence—much like the interruptive dash (which
I prefer).
"Our requests elicited recurrent clichés
and stereotypes: Americans are given to confession. . . . Americans
are puritanical. . . . Americans are obsessed with work."
The marriage between Jane and John Clemens was "courteous,
considerate and always respectful, and even deferential," their
son Sam remembered; "they were always kind toward each other,
but . . . there was nothing warmer."
At least six members of the jury cried as Ryan
spoke of individual victims, dramatically concluding each description
by saying "the defendant killed many wives. . . . The defendant
killed many children. . . . The defendant killed many grandparents."
