Ellipses Punctuation question

[rwsteward]

Boys and girls,

I’ve a question that needs a clear answer.

When working with ellipses, according to the Chicago manual of style, 10.48

“They are usually separated from each other and from the text and any contiguous punctuation by 3-1 em spaces.”

Huh? That’s clear, isn’t it?

So,

Do the ellipses signal a new sentence and thus capitalize then next word like this:

“My god… Those are nice.”

Or treat it this:

“My god…those are nice.”

Or space between the ellipses but don’t capitalize the next word like this:

“My god… those are nice.”

thanks!

mike

 

[sr71plt]

None of that. Publishing ellipses have spaces between each dot:

"My god . . . those are nice."

 

[rwsteward]

Okay,

So, how about stories posted here on Lit?

 

[sr71plt]

Okay,

So, how about stories posted here on Lit?

I imagine that you can do what you like with stories for Lit.

 

[bronzeage]

The use of ellipses to show a pause in speech is a product of the internet. English grammar does not have punctuation which indicates the speaker has paused for effect. Ellipses were adopted by forum posters and chat room chatters.

There was a valiant battle to preserve the proper use of the ellipses in true prose, but the surrender papers were signed in 2009. It was over and editors of the English speaking world conceded defeat.

There should be a space before and after the words of the sentence. No space would make the first dot a period and leave its two cousins to mark the beginning of an incorrectly capitalized first word.

 

[rwsteward]

So, none of the examples I shown are correct?

 

[Angeline]

No, the proper treatment for a pause (where the sentence continues afterward) is three periods with a space between each:

It was a very . . . pregnant pause.

When the ellipses indicate a pause at the end of a sentence, you use four periods, but the last one (which is the full stop that ends the sentence) is not spaced, like this:

He had told her this time and again . . ..

That's the style for The Chicago Manual of Style. Other style manuals may do it slightly differently, but imo Chicago is the most widely used in the publishing world.

 

[roomfor1more]

The only time I use ellipses is when I use a direct quotation and I have left out a part of it. In this situation it would mean the ellipse is being used to show there are parts of the quote missing. However I believe the other two uses involve using an ellipse to show suspense (e.g. The winner is ...) or that the sentence is incomplete (I should ...). This would mean the latter two have some application to writing erotica and there is no other words that comes after the ellipse.

 

[evelyn_carroll]

From the OED

ellipsis, n.
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Pronunciation: /ɛˈlɪpsɪs/
Forms: Pl. ellipses /-siːz/ . Also 16 elipsis, 17 elleipsis, (irreg.) illipsis, pl. ... (Show More)
Etymology: < Latin ellīpsis, < Greek ἔλλειψις: see ellipse n.
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a. = ellipse n. Now rare.
1570 H. Billingsley tr. Comte de Candale in tr. Euclid Elements Geom. xii. f. 375v, This section is a Conicall section, which is called Ellipsis.
1656 T. Hobbes Six Lessons in Wks. (1845) VII. 316 If the section be an ellipsis‥you may use the same method.
1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. vii. 33 The Planets‥could not possibly acquire such Revolutions‥in Ellipses very little Eccentric.
1696 W. Whiston New Theory of Earth (1722) i. 14 Comets' Ellipses come near to Parabola's.
1700 Moxon's Mech. Exercises: Bricklayers-wks. 32 The Ellipsis or Oval ABCD.
1730 S. Gale in J. Nichols Bibliotheca Topogr. Brit. (1790) III. 47 A fine bowling-green cut into an ellipsis.
1854 L. Tomlinson tr. D. F. J. Arago Astron. 119 It had traversed‥an ellipsis.

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†b. attrib. Obs.
1700 Moxon's Mech. Exercises: Bricklayers-wks. 33 These Ellipsis, or Semi-Oval Arches‥are sometimes made over Gate-ways.

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2. Grammar. The omission of one or more words in a sentence, which would be needed to complete the grammatical construction or fully to express the sense; concr. an instance of such omission.
1621 J. Brinsley Posing of Parts (ed. 4) 69 The first of the Substantives is oft understood by a figure called Ellipsis.
a1667 A. Cowley Davideis i. Notes (1710) I. 368 It is an Elleipsis, or leaving something to be understood by the Reader.
1727 Pope et al. Peri Bathous 73 in Swift et al. Misc.: Last Vol., The Ellipsis or Speech by half-words [is the peculiar talent] of Ministers and Politicians.
1749 J. Mason Ess. Power & Harmony Prosaic Numbers 63 An Illipsis will often help the Rhythmus, by contracting two Syllables into one, as 'tis, don't: for it is, do not.
1789 W. Belsham Ess. I. ii. 25 Violent ellipses and inversions of language.
1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. xviii. §27 note, The ancient lawyers in the construction of their appellatives have indulged themselves in much harsher ellipsises without scruple.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 476 The ellipsis was now filled up with words of high import.
1874 H. R. Reynolds John the Baptist ii. 112 Grammatical roughnesses or ellipses.

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†3. Formerly used as the name of the dash (—) employed in writing or printing to indicate the omission of letters in a word. Obs.
1795 L. Murray Eng. Gram. 173 An Ellipsis‥is also used, when some letters in a word, or some words in a verse, are omitted; as, ‘The k—ng’, for ‘the king‥’.

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ellipsis, n.
Second edition, 1989; online version March 2011. <http://www.oed.com:80/Entry/60527>; accessed 09 May 2011. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1891.

 

[sr71plt]

The question wasn't when to use them; it was how to render them.

 

[rwsteward]

Good thing I didn't ask the time.

 

[FastFinger4Her]

Ellipses

"My God. Those are nice." This shows a pause just as well, or better, than ellipses. Unless a proper name follows the ellipses, use a small, not a capital letter. A capital letter would indicated that a new sentence is intended. But if that's the case, you would use four dots (the first one for the period of the first sentence. "My God. . . . Those are nice." But as I've said, a period alone works just as well.

So the formula is x. . . . Y (My God. . . . Those are nice.)

Or x . . . y (My God . . . those are nice)

Or x. Y (My God. Those are nice.)

But ellipses are rather ugly inclusions. That's another reason (unless you're omitting part of a quotation, as one writer mentioned) I prefer x. Y

 

[sr71plt]

These can just as well be inside one sentense--as the OP indicated. Again, the OP was just asking about the proper rendering of an ellipsis in a sentence choice that was legitimate. In fact, running it as one sentence is the most legitimate. "My God" isn't a complete sentence.

Sometimes responders get carried away in answering what wasn't asked--like that nonsensical quote of the OED up the line.

 

[Great_Brit]

... Sometimes responders get carried away ... like that nonsensical quote of the OED up the line. ...

You surprise me. I thought from some of your previous postings that you WANTED people to cite authorities?

PS I hope I got the use of ellipses to indicate missing text right.

 

[FastFinger4Her]

Complete sentences

A so-called complete sentence is more of a pedagogical device. Back when students diagrammed sentences (not a bad idea, though, for learning grammar), it was good to have a noun, verb, object--and even more could be learned if the sentence had adjectives, an adverb and a prepositional phrase.

But people don't always speak in complete sentences. Therefore, a large fraction of dialogue--real or fictional--does not use complete sentences.

Right? Sure. Always.

After all, have you ever heard anyone respond to a boast by saying, "There is no way"?

You have? Yeah, right.

No way!

 

[bronzeage]

So, none of the examples I shown are correct?

We are on the frontier of English grammar and pushing the boundaries over the edge of the page. It's an exciting time to be alive.

 

[sr71plt]

You surprise me. I thought from some of your previous postings that you WANTED people to cite authorities?

PS I hope I got the use of ellipses to indicate missing text right.

Oh, I do. But let's hear from others how useful that glop was that was quoted from the OED (I won't even get into how irrelevant the OED would be if the author is American).

And this isn't even mentioning that the quote from the OED was irrelevant to the OP question, which was how to render them--not when to use them.