Question

Choose the sentence that correctly uses ellipses.

Answer 1

The correct answer is C. The other day, one of the gentlemen from Georgia … came down on us astonishingly.

Explanation:

In grammar, an ellipsis (...) is a punctuation mark that consists of three consecutive periods to show words or even phrases have been omitted from the original text. Because of this, the ellipsis is commonly used by omitting complete phrases including punctuation marks, which means ellipsis is not placed along with other punctuation marks such as comma, semicolon or period. Also, it is recommended to place a space before and after the ellipsis and avoid omitting words or phrases that are necessary to understand the meaning or essence of an excerpt.

Considering this, the sentence that correctly uses ellipses is "The other day, one of the gentlemen from Georgia … came down on us astonishingly" because in this sentence the ellipsis is used to show the omission of sentences without changing the meaning of the original text, which is the main purpose of using ellipses. Also, in this phrase, the ellipses are not placed with other punctuation marks and there is a space before and after them has been included which is correct according to grammar and style.

Answer 2

Answer:

The other day, one of the gentlemen from Georgia … came down on us astonishingly. (third option)

Explanation:

An ellipsis takes a space before and after, so the last option is correct.

The first option is wrong because it uses a comma.

The second option is wrong because there is no space before the ellipsis.