Editing the Fundraiser Email

Use ellipses to shorten quoted emails without changing the message.

Read the email exchange

An ellipsis (…) can show that words have been left out of a quotation. Keep retained words in their original order and preserve the writer’s meaning.

Recipe Booklet: Planning Thread

1To: Imani | From: Dario | Subject: Recipe booklet fundraiser Hi Imani, Our debate club needs new timers, and a recipe booklet could help us raise the money. Students could contribute recipes that matter to their families, along with short notes about when they cook them. We should ask permission before printing anyone’s name. I suggest collecting submissions by email so we can keep each recipe beside its contributor’s note. A shared folder would also let the editing team find the latest version without searching several inboxes.

2For the planning committee, please quote only the parts of this email that explain our decisions. Space on its agenda is limited. You may shorten my sentences, but readers should be able to tell where material was removed. The committee will use those quotations to decide what we are actually proposing. A missing phrase could make a tentative idea sound like a settled plan, especially when someone reads quickly between classes.

3To: Dario | From: Imani | Subject: Re: Recipe booklet fundraiser Hi Dario, I can prepare the agenda notes. I’ll use an ellipsis when I remove words from inside a quotation. I won’t use those dots merely to decorate a heading or make a sentence look informal. For our practice edits, I’ll keep each sentence’s opening words and final period, so we can focus on gaps within sentences. Before sending the notes, I’ll compare every shortened quotation with your original email.

4Here are my suggestions for the booklet. The cover could feature student drawings rather than photographs. We can accept handwritten recipes if a volunteer types them before editing begins. Contributors should review typed recipes before we publish them. The booklet will include ingredient lists and preparation steps, but it will not include private contact information. Please keep that last distinction clear if you quote me.

5The committee can review a sample booklet next Wednesday during lunch. We should announce a price after we know the printing cost. In the announcement, let’s explain that this is a collection of student contributions, not a professionally tested cookbook. We can invite readers to enjoy the family notes as well as the recipes. A brief announcement is useful, but it still needs to represent what we agreed to do. Thanks, Imani

Which editing concern explains why Dario wants omissions to be visible in the committee’s quotations?

A. A shortened quotation might make a proposal seem more definite.
B. A shortened quotation might make the printing cost seem higher.
C. The committee might prefer photographs to student cover drawings.
D. The committee might confuse recipe instructions with family notes.

Underline the sentence from paragraph 2 that specifically explains how cutting words could change an idea’s apparent level of certainty.

For the planning committee, please quote only the parts of this email that explain our decisions.Space on its agenda is limited.You may shorten my sentences, but readers should be able to tell where material was removed.The committee will use those quotations to decide what we are actually proposing.A missing phrase could make a tentative idea sound like a settled plan, especially when someone reads quickly between classes.

Imani copies Dario’s complete sentence without removing any words: “Space on its agenda is limited.” Which version should appear as the quotation?

A. “Space on its agenda … is limited.”
B. “Space on its agenda is limited.”
C. “Space on its … agenda is limited.”
D. “Space … on its agenda is limited.”

Compare these two email uses of dots. Quoted excerpt: “The committee can review a sample booklet … during lunch.” Newly written reply: “I was thinking … maybe we should ask the club first.” Which explanation distinguishes their functions?

A. The excerpt suggests hesitation; the reply marks omitted words.
B. Both show that the writers have finished listing ideas.
C. Both mark words removed from Dario’s original email.
D. The excerpt marks omitted words; the reply suggests hesitation.

Make precise cuts

Compare every quotation with its source. In these exercises, use … for an omission within a sentence. Do not add, rearrange, or replace retained words.

Source: “Students could contribute recipes that matter to their families, along with short notes about when they cook them.” An editor wants to retain the family connection but omit the added information about notes. Which excerpt does that?

A. “Students could contribute recipes that matter to their families ….”
B. “Students could contribute … that matter to their families, along with short notes.”
C. “Students could contribute recipes … along with short notes about when they cook them.”
D. “Students could contribute recipes that matter … along with short notes.”

Source: “A shared folder would also let the editing team find the latest version without searching several inboxes.” Underline the TWO excerpts whose ellipses mark all internal omissions accurately. Judge wording and placement.

“A shared folder would … let the editing team find the latest version without searching several inboxes.”“A shared folder would also let the team … find the latest version without searching several inboxes.”“A shared folder would also let the editing team find the version … without searching several inboxes.”“A shared folder would also let the editing team find … without searching several inboxes.”

Source: “Before sending the notes, I’ll compare every shortened quotation with your original email.” An editor keeps “Before sending the notes” and “with your original email” but removes everything between those two groups. Where must the omission mark go?

A. Between “your” and “original”
B. Between “Before” and “sending”
C. Between “notes” and “with”
D. Between “original” and “email”

An editor shortens this source: “The committee can review a sample booklet next Wednesday during lunch.” Sort the editing plans by the number of separate omission marks needed. Adjacent omitted words form one gap.

Remove “sample” and “next Wednesday”; retain “booklet” between the cuts.Remove the complete group “a sample booklet next Wednesday”.Remove “can” and “next Wednesday”; retain the words between those cuts.Remove the complete group “next Wednesday”.

One omission mark	Two omission marks

Source: “The booklet will include ingredient lists and preparation steps, but it will not include private contact information.” Draft quotation: “The booklet will include ingredient lists … private contact information.” What is the strongest reason to reject this draft?

A. It retains words from both the beginning and ending of the source.
B. It makes excluded information appear to be part of the booklet.
C. It uses one omission mark for a continuous group of missing words.
D. It leaves the original final period inside the quotation marks.

10.

Source: “We can invite readers to enjoy the family notes as well as the recipes.” Imani writes this unquoted paraphrase: Imani suggests that readers may enjoy both the notes and the recipes. Does that paraphrase need an ellipsis?

A. No, because it restates the idea rather than shortening a direct quotation.
B. No, because ellipses belong in printed reports rather than emails.
C. Yes, because it mentions two different parts of the booklet.
D. Yes, because it contains fewer words than the source sentence.

11.

Source: “We can accept handwritten recipes if a volunteer types them before editing begins.” The agenda must explain the condition for accepting handwritten recipes. Which editorial decision best serves that purpose?

A. Quote “We … accept handwritten recipes” because the ellipsis explains the condition.
B. Quote “We can accept … before editing begins” because the ending identifies the condition.
C. Quote “We can accept handwritten recipes …” because the remaining words imply the condition.
D. Keep the complete sentence because the condition is essential to this agenda point.

12.

Source: “I won’t use those dots merely to decorate a heading or make a sentence look informal.” An editor removes only “merely.” Which draft places the ellipsis at the actual gap?

A. “I won’t use those dots to decorate … a heading or make a sentence look informal.”
B. “I won’t use those dots to decorate a heading … or make a sentence look informal.”
C. “I won’t use those dots … to decorate a heading or make a sentence look informal.”
D. “I won’t … use those dots to decorate a heading or make a sentence look informal.”

13.

Source: “We can invite readers to enjoy the family notes as well as the recipes.” Write a shortened quotation that removes one continuous group of words, keeps a complete sentence, and still mentions both the notes and the recipes. Mark the cut with an ellipsis. Then identify the omitted words and explain why your edit preserves the message.