punctuation - Deleting a word from the start of a quotation


If you delete a single word (or even two or three words) from the start of a quote, should you still use an ellipsis (…) or can you put the first non-deleted word in square brackets ([Word])?


For example, if I want to delete the word "to" from s.10(c) of the Canadian Charter, which goes as follows:



(c) to have the validity of the detention determined by way of habeas corpus and to be released if the detention is not lawful.



would I write:



'…have the validity, etc.'



or:



'[have] the validity, etc.'




I'm fairly sure that multiple deleted words within a quotation are replaced with an ellipsis offset by a space on each side, or part of the quotation placed within square brackets if only a few words are removed or re-ordered (if someone could confirm this, please). So at the moment I'm concluding logically that a deleted word at the start of a quotation is replaced by an ellipsis also.




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