parts of speech and have di erent meanings. The verb elicit means to draw out or nonindent; the adjective illicit means illegal. Ellipsis. The omission of text for any reason from a reported statement or incomplete thought is called an ellipsis (plural ellipses). It is normally represented by three consecutive periods with or without space surrounding them and separating them He said, The ten points to remember are and don’t forget them ” If the ellipses come at the end of a sentence, a fourth period is added to represent the end of the sentence. This is particularly common when ellipsis are used to indicate a thought that is left incomplete or allowed to trail o But that is another story. …” Four ellipsis points also appear between sentences in block quotations when other sentences between them have been omitted. Ellipses that come before other parts of sentences can be followed by other punctuation: The four points are the nature of organization, the structure of rms and the management scheme.” Since ellipses represent the omission of text or the incompleteness of thought, they can present the reader with gaps in information or logic. Ellipses should therefore be used with care to preserve the sense of a quoted source and the full intent of the shortened sentence. Overuse of ellipses leads a reader to feel that a writer is manipulating a quoted source and probably changing its meaning or is not arguing or presenting a case cogently and completely. Finally, too many sentences that end in trailing ellipses can seem quite coy and o -putting—if there is more to be said, say it.
