Read the excerpt from “The Gettysburg Address,” Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. Which quotation correctly uses ellipsis to shorten Lincoln’s words?
Answer
A
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated . . . We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
B
Now we are engaged in a great civil war . . . testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
C
Now . . . in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
D
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation . . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
Explanation
An ellipsis shows that words have been omitted from a quotation. Choice B removes “testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated” while keeping the remaining words in their original order. Choice A omits words but also drops the comma before the omission, and choices C and D make the remaining wording grammatically misleading or alter the meaning.
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