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Post by dannyw on Feb 1, 2012 20:58:46 GMT
"I have spoken to Phillipe and he confirmed that this was never meant to be something permanent."
In quoting someone, but wishing to shorten it a bit, can you use ellipsis at the beginning of a sentence and, if so, would this be correct?
"... [H]e confirmed that this was never meant to be something permanent."
Danny
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Post by Tone on Feb 1, 2012 21:21:18 GMT
Danny,
Well, not quite the way that you have done it.
Original: >"I have spoken to Phillipe and he confirmed that this was never meant to be something permanent."<
Your version: >"... [H]e confirmed that this was never meant to be something permanent."< (Wrong.)
You can elide (in more than one place, or you can substitute in square brackets, thus:
"... Phillipe ... confirmed that this was never meant to be something permanent." Or: "[He] confirmed that this was never meant to be something permanent." (But that version would depend on there having been a previous sentence to provide "Phillipe" as a referent for the "he".)
By the by, remember that, unless you are a newspaper, there should always be a space before and after an ellipsis.
Tone
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