ELLIPSIS AND DASHES Mrs Zipperer 8 th Grade

ELLIPSIS AND DASHES Mrs. Zipperer 8 th Grade Language Arts

ELLIPSIS An ellipsis are used when quoting material and you want to omit words. The ellipsis consists of three evenly spaced dots (periods) �. . . Example: � “The ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes from the Caribbean who were visiting the U. S. ” � Omit the underlined words and use ellipsis, you now have: � “The ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes … visiting the U. S. ”

ANOTHER USE FOR ELLIPSIS The ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in the flow of a sentence and is especially useful in quoted speech: �Juan thought and thought … and then thought some more. �"I'm wondering …" Juan said, bemused.

ELLIPSIS Ellipsis help to add drama to a statement by focusing on the most important part They also help to keep the focus when quoting something.

RE-WRITE THIS SENTENCE USINGE LLIPSIS “I liked the feeling of love, ' [Jonas] confessed. He glanced nervously at the speaker on the wall, reassuring himself that no one was listening. 'I wish we still had that, ' he whispered. 'Of course, ' he added quickly, 'I do understand that it wouldn't work very well. And that it's much better to be organized the way we are now. I can see that it was a dangerous way to live. '

DASHES In writing dialogue, the dash is used to show breaks in thought and shifts in tone: Example: "How many times have I asked you not to —" Jason suddenly stopped talking and looked out the window. "Not to do what? " I prompted. "Not to — Oh heck, I forget!"

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? Ellipsis used to indicate: 1. a gap in a quotation 2. pause in the middle of a sentence 3. a thought that trails off at the end of a sentence Dash used to indicate: 1. an interruption in dialogue 2. to introduce a list of items 3. to signal an explanation the writer wants to emphasize *used to take the place of *used as a highlighter missing words

EXAMPLES OF EACH http: //ramonadef. wordpress. com/2012/05/22/how-touse-an-ellipsis-versus-a-dash/