The continuity of weak solutions of elliptic partial differential equations $$div \mathcal{A}(x,\nabla u) = 0$$ is considered under minimal structure assumptions. The main result guarantees the continuity at the point$x$_{0}for weakly monotone weak solutions if the structure of$A$is controlled in a sequence of annuli $$B(x_0 ,R_j )\backslash \bar B(x_0 ,r_j )$$ with uniformly bounded ratio$R$_{$j$}$/r$_{$j$}such that lim_{$j→∞$}$R$_{$j$}=0. As a consequence, we obtain a sufficient condition for the continuity of mappings of finite distortion.