The word ellipsis has two meanings in grammar. The first refers to the omission of words in a sentence in order to avoid repetition or the use of other words deemed unnecessary:I can dance as well as you [can dance].
[I shall] See you tomorrow. Caution should be exercised in the use of such ellipses, since there is some danger that the omitted words may not harmonize with the words repeated:She has not and never will agree to the proposal. In the above example the omitted word is agreed, not agree, as the elliptical construction dictates it should be. The one exception where the omitted word does not have to match precisely the actual word given is the verb be:We're flying out tonight, and the rest, on Monday. The other meaning of the word ellipsis refers to its use as a punctuation mark (…), which similarly indicates that material has been omitted. It is commonly employed at the beginning or end of quoted passages to indicate that these are extracts of longer pieces of writing that follow or precede the quote:Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears….
… the rest is silence.
The tour guide reminded us, When in Rome … In cases where a complete sentence ends with an ellipsis it is conventional to add the ellipsis after the closing period. Where a whole sentence is omitted it is customary to insert a period before the ellipsis:"We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms…. The fourth is freedom from fear … anywhere in the world." Ellipses may also be employed in much the same way as dashes, variously representing breaks in speech or an unfinished word or sentence. Note, though, that whereas a dash suggests a sudden interruption in speech, an ellipsis implies a more gradual trailing off:She was in shock from the news. She sputtered, "But he was just here…. He said … We were …" She began to sob.
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