Ellipses and Brackets in Quotations

Core Idea

When writers quote a source, they sometimes need to shorten or adjust the words. An ellipsis (three spaced periods, ". . .") shows that words have been left out of a quotation. Square brackets [ ] mark words the writer has added or changed, such as a clarifying name or a capital letter adjusted to fit the sentence. Both marks let a writer fit a quotation into their own sentence while showing the reader exactly where the original was altered. Neither may be used to change the source's meaning.

How It's Best Learned

Give students a short paragraph and a target sentence, and have them trim the quotation with an ellipsis and then check that the meaning survived. Practice replacing an unclear pronoun ("she") with a bracketed name ("[Rosa Parks]"). Show a misleading ellipsis, such as cutting "not" out of a sentence, so students see why the meaning rule exists. Compare the rules in the style guide the class uses, since spacing details vary.

Common Misconceptions

• An ellipsis is needed at the start and end of every quotation. (Most style guides omit ellipses at the start or end when it is already clear the quotation is a fragment of a longer text.)
• Brackets and parentheses are interchangeable inside quotations. (Parentheses inside a quotation look like part of the original; square brackets signal the writer's own insertion.)
• An ellipsis lets a writer drop any words that do not support their point. (Omissions must not change what the source meant; cutting a qualifier like "not" or "rarely" misrepresents the source.)

Explainer

A quotation promises the reader that these are the source's exact words. Sometimes, though, the exact words are too long, or they do not fit smoothly into your sentence. Two punctuation marks let you adjust a quotation honestly: the ellipsis and the square bracket.

The ellipsis is three periods, usually spaced in formal styles (. . .). It tells the reader, "Some words were removed here." Suppose the original reads:

> "The river, which had been rising steadily for three days, finally broke through the levee."

If you only need the main event, you can write:

> "The river . . . finally broke through the levee."

If the omission comes at the end of a sentence, many styles keep the sentence's period as well, producing four dots. Style guides such as MLA, APA, and Chicago differ on small details like spacing, so follow the one your class or publication uses.

You usually do not need an ellipsis at the very beginning or end of a quotation. If you quote the phrase "broke through the levee" inside your own sentence, the reader already understands it comes from a longer text.

Square brackets mark changes or additions. Writers use them in three common ways:

1. To clarify a word. "He [the governor] signed the bill."

2. To adjust grammar or capitals. If a quotation starts mid-sentence in the original but begins your sentence, you can write "[T]he levee failed."

3. To flag an error in the source. The Latin word "sic," meaning "thus," goes in brackets right after a mistake you copied exactly: The report claimed that "the dam was compleated [sic] in 1985."

Brackets must be square. Parentheses inside a quotation look as though the original author wrote them.

The most important rule covers both marks: do not change the meaning. If a scientist wrote "This result is not yet reliable," you cannot quote "This result is . . . reliable." That kind of cut misrepresents the source, and readers who check the original will stop trusting you. Before you finalize a trimmed quotation, read it beside the original and ask whether the author would agree that you have reported their point fairly.