Purpose
Authors use ellipses to signify the omission of a word from a sentence. This device allows the pacing of the sentence to remain as the writer intended, and also ensures that the sentence is not repetitive. For instance, this device may seem appealing for a writer in a sentence like so: “Harry went to the gym and so did Liz.” In this sentence, the phrase “went to the gym,” is omitted. This ensures that the sentence does not sound too repetitive. If the sentences included “went to the gym” twice, it would flow well, and would surely be repetitive. This device ensures that the pacing of the writing remains as the writer intended it to be.
Nordquist, Richard. "Ellipsis: Definition and Examples in Grammar." ThoughtCo., edited by Amanda Prahl, Dotdash Meredith, 28 Aug. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/ellipsis-grammar-and-rhetoric-1690640#:~:text=John%20saw%20two%20hawks%20in,Nordquist%2C%20Richard. Accessed 2 Sept. 2022.
Steps for Analysis
When approaching the use of ellipsis in a sentence, first figure out which word or phrase has been omitted from the sentence.
Next, you must think about why the phrase or word has been omitted.
You also must insert the phrase or word back into the sentence, to see the difference it makes, had ellipsis not been used.
Lastly, you must think about why the author chose to use this device?
-Would the pacing have changed, had ellipsis not been used?
-Would the tone of the sentence be different if ellipsis was not used?
-How or how not does the use of ellipsis benefit the power of the sentence?
Example from Ralph Waldo Emerson's The Essay on Self-reliance:
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradicts everything you said to-day.--'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.'--Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood”
Analysis of Passage:
In this excerpt from The Essay on Self-reliance Ralph Waldo Emerson discusses that you must be who you are despite what anyone says, even though you risk being misunderstood. Emerson does this by listing a sequence of great people who have existed, but makes this point by saying that they too have been misunderstood. He says this to prove that being misunderstood doesn't always mean you should conform to societies standards of ordinary. More specifically “Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood” (Emerson.) This sentence uses the rhetorical device ellipsis to make its point. The phrase that has been omitted in this sentence is “was misunderstood.” He does this to keep the pacing and tone of the sentence as he meant it, which is prompt, powerful, and to the point. By omitting “was misunderstood” from each name of the sequence makes the sentence flow better, and makes it more compact. Ellipsis is often used in a non-distinct way by authors, in order to keep a sentence short and snappy. If Emerson had used this phrase after every name in the sentence, the message would not have come across as powerful as it did, and would have seemed redundant. Overall, ellipsis stops authors from unnecessarily repeating words, and gives author control of maintaining the pacing of their sentence.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Page 23." The Essay on Self-reliance, Harvard University, Roycrofters, 1908. Google Books, www.google.com/books/edition/The_Essay_on_Self_reliance/kL9qJnyaUZoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&kptab=sideways&bsq=%E2%80%9CPythagoras%20was%20misunderstood,%20and%20Socrates,%20and%20Jesus,%20and%20Luther,%20and%20Copernicus,%20and%20Galileo,%20and%20Newton,%20and%20every%20pure%20and%20wise%20spirit%20that%20ever%20took%20flesh.%20To%20be%20great%20is%20to%20be%20misunderstood%E2%80%9D. Accessed 2 Sept. 2022.
Arianna C