thepunctuationshow.com

Raising attainment through entertainment and learning through laughter.

Finley

Ellipsis

Finley

An ellipsis is used to show an omission of expected words.

It can often be used to show a dramatic pause in a sentence.
When used in this way, it is made up of three dots and can replace a full stop.

Ray
Finley

We use an ellipsis to show that part of a text is missing. Clever writers will use this creatively

For example,

Walking towards the room, the man stopped...

The ellipsis used here makes us wonder why the man has stopped. It adds drama and tension.

Ray
Finley

And again...

And the winner is...

The ellipsis here is used to build suspense and anticipation.

Remember, an ellipsis can occur in a sentence without the need for the dots.

Ray
Finley

For example,

John watched his mother and went over to help.

The omission of the word ‘he’ before ‘went’ is an ellipsis, but doesn’t require three dots.

Your Turn…

1. What is an ellipsis?
It’s what happens when the moon goes in front of the sun
A special offer at Tesco
A punctuation mark

2. What does an ellipsis look like?
"
?
...

3. What is the job of an ellipsis?
To stop people stealing
To introduce tension, drama, or anticipation in a sentence
To separate items in lists.

4. Which of the following should include an ellipsis?
The results are
I am four years old
Why don’t you like cabbage

5. Look at the following sentence: The man stopped Where should the ellipsis go?
After ‘The’
After ‘man’
After ‘stopped’

Score =
Correct answers:

Finley

Got them all right? Click the button for your certificate.

No cheating, or Finley will eat you!

Company Information

The Punctuation Show and everything on this site is owned by PODCASTREVISION LTD
Director: Barrie McDermid
Company number - 06990962
VAT Reg - 978 170187
Public Liability Insurance cover for £1,000,000

The mission of The Punctuation Show is to raise attainment through entertainment and encourage pupils to learn through laughter. We aim to please in everything we do and will go out of our way to provide outstanding customer service.


Connect with The Punctuation Show on Social Media

Connect with us on the platform of your choice to get updates of what The Punctuation Show is doing and for offers, resources and competitions.

Mailing list:

By signing up to our newsletter, you get free resources in your inbox regularly to save your precious time. What's not to like?