Which statement about ellipses in quotations is true?

Which statement about ellipses in quotations is true?

• A. Ellipses indicate omitted material within a quotation.
• B. Ellipses indicate a pause in the quote.
• C. Ellipses substitute missing words with new content.
• D. Ellipses indicate the quote ends.

Answer: (A)

Ellipses in quotations are used to show that some material from the original text has been left out. This lets you shorten a quotation without changing its overall meaning, while signaling to the reader that there’s missing content behind the scenes. They aren’t meant to insert new words or alter what was originally said—that role is played by brackets if you need to add or modify content. While an ellipsis can sometimes suggest a pause in speech, its primary purpose in quoting is omission, not signaling a pause. It also doesn’t by itself indicate that a quote has ended; end punctuation and closing quotation marks serve that function, though a trailing ellipsis can convey a stylistic sense of unfinished thought. So the true statement is that ellipses indicate omitted material within a quotation.

Ellipses in quotations are used to show that some material from the original text has been left out. This lets you shorten a quotation without changing its overall meaning, while signaling to the reader that there’s missing content behind the scenes. They aren’t meant to insert new words or alter what was originally said—that role is played by brackets if you need to add or modify content. While an ellipsis can sometimes suggest a pause in speech, its primary purpose in quoting is omission, not signaling a pause. It also doesn’t by itself indicate that a quote has ended; end punctuation and closing quotation marks serve that function, though a trailing ellipsis can convey a stylistic sense of unfinished thought. So the true statement is that ellipses indicate omitted material within a quotation.