<<Have you heard of O-X-Y-M-O-R-O-N? A quote CANNOT be accurate if there is an
ellipsis. Sorry, you lose, next issue.>>
Where is this rule written except in your own mind? You mean accuracy CANNOT
be conveyed when an ellipsis is used? Tell that to all writers everywhere.
Start with the Supreme Court Justices, who do this all the time, and work your
way on down to every writer who as ever lived. Ask Howard Van Till, who does
it in Science Held Hostage. Ask Stephen Jay Gould, who does it all the time.
Why, you can even as a fellow named GLENN MORTON, who has himself used the
ellipsis in his own messages in the past! Let's see, on June 11, 1995, Morton
quoted Johnson in DOT thus:
"The practice is illustrated by the use that has been made of a
newly-discovered fossil of a whale-like creature called Basilosaurus.
.... Paleontologists now report that a Basilosaurus skeleton recently
discovered in Egypt has appendages which appear to be vestigial hind legs and
feet."
The ellipsis was supplied by this same Glenn Morton! Hmm.... (the ellipsis at
the end of "Hmm" is an acceptable way of leaving off what is obvious.)
The idea that a quote can't be accurate with an ellipsis is so contrary to
everything everyone knows about writing it's inCREDIBLE you wrote the above.
The use of ellipsis is not only accepted, but HELPFUL in research papers
QUOTING AUTHORITIES (Nurnberg, Questions You Always Had About English, (1972)
p. 185. I would not call Prof. Nurnberg, NYU, oxymoronic. The acceptability of
the ellipsis in quotations is also noted in Shertzer, The Elements of Grammar
(1986) pg. 108-109, with accompanying quotation examples. Ms. Shertzer is not
an oxymoron, either.
Perhaps America's leading expert on the ethics and rules of good writing is
William Zinsser. His classic, On Writing Well, is into, I think, the sixth
edition. I have the second. On page 83 you'll find what is the common sense
approach professional writers (and here, O geologist friend, I get to pull
rank on you) and researchers use: "Play with the quotes by all
means--selecting, rejecting, thinning, transposing their order, saving a good
one for the end. JUST MAKE SURE THAT THE PLAY IS FAIR. DON'T CHANGE ANY WORDS
OR LET THE CUTTING OF A SENTENCE DISTORT THE PROPER CONTEXT OF WHAT REMAINS."
What you did was just the opposite: selecting only those words which suited
your case, and omitting the rest of the quote. And you were caught, big time.
Case closed, Glenn. You don't even get another chance. As they say at
Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, "There's no WAY OUT!!!!"
JB<<Glenn! What brew are you sipping out there?
GM <<Its my Grandmothers Home Remedy. (TM) :-)
Was she ever caught by the Feds?
Jim