Ellipses

1. Indicate, by three spaced points, omission of words or sentences within quoted matter: Equipped by education to rule in the nineteenth century, … he lived and reigned in Russia in the twentieth century.—Robert K. Massie
2. Indicate, by four spaced points, omission of words at the end of a sentence: The timidity of bureaucrats when it comes to dealing with … abuses is easy to explain. …—New York
3. Indicate, when extended the length of a line, omission of one or more lines of poetry:

   Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean—roll!
   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   Man marks the earth with ruin—his control
   Stops with the shore.—Lord Byron
   

4. Are sometimes used as a device, as for example, in advertising copy:

   To help you Move and Grow
      with the Rigors of
   Business in the 1980s …
      and Beyond.—Journal of Business Strategy
   

See also: The Dash and the Hyphen and the Ellipsis.

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