You've got me stumped. I've never really noticed it before, but a Wordcraft search reveals 19 posts containing the phrase "ellipses omitted" in parentheses. Ellipses can refer to the omissions, in which case "ellipses omitted" makes no sense that I can see. Ellipses can also refer to the printing marks indicating the omissions, in which case "ellipses omitted" indicates to me that there are omissions but no ellipses to indicate those omissions. That doesn't really sound right to me either. An fficial&client=firefox-a" TARGET=_blank>internet search reveals that it's used in a lot of legal documents. Perhaps our legal adviser can enlighten us.This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,
I believe shu' is telling us there are omissions, but he's not showing us where.
but when you're copying citations, it does seem kind of pointless to copy the ellipses as well -- the original citer supposedly had good reason for the omission, but you may have none if you don't have access to the original material.
An ellipsis is a punctuation mark consisting of three periods (or dots, or full stops). It is not the text which has been omitted. The plural of ellipsis is ellipses. In Unicode, an ellipsis is a single glyph, …, and not three dots ...
Originally posted by zmježd: An ellipsis is a punctuation mark consisting of three periods (or dots, or full stops).
Thanks, zmježd. That's what I thought, too. But several online dictionaries I read said it could refer to the omission of words. When I reread them, though, I realized they were referring to ellipsis, the rhetorical device. (Thanks to Shufitz for that site.)
I would take it to mean that those 3 dots (the ellipsis) were omitted. While it should be "ellipsis omitted," otherwise it seems clear to me.
However, it also could mean, "the omission from a sentence or other construction of one or more words that would complete or clarify the construction" (Dictionary.com/Random House Unabridged, 2006). In that case, I can see the confusion.
Originally posted by Kalleh: While it should be "ellipsis omitted," otherwise it seems clear to me.
Since it appears as "ellipses omitted" I have to assume it refers to multiple omissions, which would justify the plural.
quote:
However, it also could mean, "the omission from a sentence or other construction of one or more words that would complete or clarify the construction" (Dictionary.com/Random House Unabridged, 2006). In that case, I can see the confusion.
) is "ellipses omitted" an oxymoron?
