punctuation - If I quote only the middle part of a sentence, do I use ellipses?


For example, if Peter is my source, should I say:



Peter mentioned his '... unquenchable thirst, a fatigued body...' as being part of the reason for his actions.



Or would I have to leave out the ellipses?



Answer



No, you would leave out the ellipses there.


The Purdue OWL has a page about this; it lists this example:



According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express 'profound aspects of personality'.



Even if you aren't quoting Peter's remarks in their entirety, you don't need to use elipses, because your sentence is structured in a way that shows you are only using a small segment of his overall quotation (much like the preceding example).


The same site goes on to say:



If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis marks.



So, if Peter had said:



I quit because of my unquenchable thirst, a bad blister on my foot, and a fatigued body.



then you might say:



Peter mentioned his 'unquenchable thirst ... and a fatigued body' as being part of the reason for his actions.



Going back to your example, there is another way you could structure the sentence, to avoid the awkwardness of the article a:



Peter mentioned his 'unquenchable thirst' and 'fatigued body' as being part of the reason for his actions.



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