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This is a problem that has long troubled me.

Imagine that I have a block of prose organized in three paragraphs. I want to construct a single quotation that contains only the first and third paragraph.

I use ellipsis if I want to tell readers that I am skipping sentences in a quotation. How do I tell readers that the quotation is skipping a paragraph?

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2 Answers 2

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You can use an ellipsis, typeset on a line by itself (or paragraph).

The first paragraph of the quotation.

[…]

The third paragraph of the quotation.

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  • +1 — This is what I would do, but curiously the AP Stylesheet is silent on this issue. It covers what to do if a deletion occurs at the end of one paragraph and continues into the next, but not omission of entire paragraphs.
    – Robusto
    Commented Feb 27, 2011 at 19:02
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    This is the way to do it, if you have to. The trick is to avoid using such an ellipsis over (say) 15 pages. You need your reader to trust the impression you are giving of your source text. If you have to mangle a text to this extent, it might well be a better idea to give a well-constructed gloss.
    – Captain Cranium
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 20:11
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I agree with ShreevatsaR, but I would also suggest that you could also provide a small bit of linking text, like so:

"Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah."

Further on, he elaborated on the point:

"Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah."

If an ellipsis is going to take an entire paragraph anyway, a bit of text takes up no more room and may add clarity. Use your judgment. Here are some types of linking text I would use.

Later, he seems to refine his assertion:

or

After a little more descriptive text, he finally gets to the point:

or

While that seems forceful enough by itself, Ms. Peters later on delivers this devastating critique:

And so on. Obviously the linking text would depend on the subject and the type of narrative that's being interrupted by your deletion.

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  • Oh yes +1, this is definitely better. And "later on" can also be "two paragraphs later" if one wants to indicate precisely how much was skipped. :-)
    – ShreevatsaR
    Commented Feb 27, 2011 at 19:44
  • Doing this will definitely make your writing much more readable.
    – user502
    Commented Feb 28, 2011 at 2:21
  • I think the fourth blah in the third paragraph is slightly off. Just my .02.
    – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Feb 28, 2011 at 3:26
  • @Cerberus: Perfectionist! :P
    – Robusto
    Commented Feb 28, 2011 at 13:49

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