Omitting and Adding Words in a Quotation
If you leave
words out of a quotation, use an ellipsis mark to indicate the omitted words.
If you need to insert something within a quotation, use a pair of brackets to
enclose the addition. For example:
full quotation |
The welfare agency representative said, "We are unable to help every family that we'd like to help because we don't have the funds to do so." |
omitted
material with ellipsis |
The welfare agency representative said, "We are unable to help every family . . . because we don't have the funds to do so." |
added
material with brackets |
The welfare agency representative explained that they are "unable to help every family that [they would] like to help." |
Need a more extensive discussion and more examples? See here