63–64.Įllipses streamline your prose and keep it on track, thereby increasing the odds that the quoted parts will actually be read. A terrific reference for formatting issues is Matthew Butterick’s Typography for Lawyers (2010). In Microsoft Word, hit control + shift + space bar (command + shift + space bar on a Mac). Use it to keep the text and ellipsis dots together. Use nonbreaking spaces to prevent the ellipsis dots from being separated by a line break.Ī nonbreaking or “hard” space is the same width as a word space. ” before you sit down.īut this: If you are out of time, “take at most five or ten seconds to finish your sentence” before you sit down. take at most five or ten seconds to finish your sentence. Don’t use ellipsis dots if the quoted matter is worked into the syntax of the sentence. ” (The bracketed capital letter signals that the y was lowercase in the original, which means something was left out.) ”īut this: “ou should at least conclude with a graceful ending. You should at least conclude with a graceful ending. Don’t begin a quotation with ellipsis dots. “Whether or not you have time for a summary or a zinger, you should at least conclude with a graceful ending rather than just trailing off into silence.”
#ELLIPSIS IN WORD FOR MAC FULL#
Center three widely spaced ellipsis dots on a separate line when you’ve omitted a full paragraph or more.Įx.: “When the red light comes on, or when you are otherwise informed that your time is up, take at most five or ten seconds to finish your sentence and prepare to sit down. Don’t put a space before the first dot (the period).Įx.: “Don’t announce regretfully (much less resentfully) that it looks as if your time has run out.
#ELLIPSIS IN WORD FOR MAC PLUS#
Use four dots-a period plus three ellipsis dots-when you’ve omitted material after a full sentence but the quotation continues. Don’t look yearningly at the presiding judge as if requesting more time.” ”Įx.: “When the red light comes on, or when you are otherwise informed that your time is up, take at most five or ten seconds to finish your sentence. Put a space before the first ellipsis dot.Įx.: “Rarely will judges relent to those unsubtle suggestions. Use four dots-three ellipsis dots plus a period-when you’ve omitted one or more words at the end of a sentence. take at most five or ten seconds to finish your sentence and prepare to sit down.” (Note the retained comma.) that it looks as if your time has run out.”Įx.: “When the red light comes on. Omit any punctuation that appears on either side of the removed matter, unless it is grammatically needed in the new sentence.Įx.: “Don’t announce regretfully.
Use three ellipsis dots to signal that you’ve omitted one or more words midsentence within a quotation. The full text is reproduced at the end of this lesson.) The correct use of ellipsis dots can challenge even the most careful legal writers. Judges expect punctilious accuracy, even in the minutest details. Properly used, ellipses are perfectly respectable and often necessary to avoid both the reproduction of extraneous words (a time-waster) and any suspicion that the writer has tampered with the quotation’s meaning (a credibility-waster). Lawyers frequently need ellipsis dots because of the abundant quotations in legal writing-quotations that often need trimming.
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