Ellipses, etc.

[Liar]

Once and for all, does someone know the correct use for ellipses and other ways to write incomplete sentences in the English language.

In dialouge (actually, in narration too, but not as often), I use (...) to indicate all kinds of things.

Sentences trailing off into silence:
"Hey mister, let's go up to my hotel room and, you know..."

Changing notion in the middle of sentences:
"We need shotguns, because...man, what a great ass on that girl over there...anyway, where were ve? Ah yes, shotguns."

Hesitating pauses in the middle of sentences:
"Two plus two? That would be...uuh...hmm...something."

Interuptions:
"No, that's the wrong hole, you filthy..."
"...Honey, come on! Were's your sense of adventure?"

Is this correct? I recently read a book which used those long dashes (like a - but twice the length) heavily in narration and even more in dialouge to indicate all irregulatiries like that. How do I make those on a regular keyboard anyway?

Are there rules, someplace that explains the proper use so that even a dummy like I can understand it?

 

[NoJo]

Once and for all, does someone know the correct use for ellipses and other ways to write incomplete sentences in the English language.

In dialouge (actually, in narration too, but not as often), I use (...) to indicate all kinds of things.

Sentences trailing off into silence:
"Hey mister, let's go up to my hotel room and, you know..."

Changing notion in the middle of sentences:
"We need shotguns, because...man, what a great ass on that girl over there...anyway, where were ve? Ah yes, shotguns."

Hesitating pauses in the middle of sentences:
"Two plus two? That would be...uuh...hmm...something."

Interuptions:
"No, that's the wrong hole, you filthy..."
"...Honey, come on! Were's your sense of adventure?"

Is this correct? I recently read a book which used those long dashes (like a - but twice the length) heavily in narration and even more in dialouge to indicate all irregulatiries like that. How do I make those on a regular keyboard anyway?

Are there rules, someplace that explains the proper use so that even a dummy like I can understand it?

There doesn't seem anything wrong with any of your examples. Excessive use of any one style can be jarring, though. So it's useful to vary the punctuation style when possible.

For interruptions, I use short dashes instead of ellipses, because they're more "abrupt" looking.

One writer I know uses commas quite effectively to show hesitation in speech:

"It's just, it's, I mean, it's just, so unfair.."

 

[Liar]

One writer I know uses commas quite effectively to show hesitation in speech:

"It's just, it's, I mean, it's just, so unfair.."

I do that too, when I want to indicate a higher tempo. But for most passages it feels too, I guess the word is hectic, when I read it out loud.

 

[Weird Harold]

Once and for all, does someone know the correct use for ellipses and other ways to write incomplete sentences in the English language.
...

The best way to understand when an ellipsis is appropriate is to remember that the definition is "a punction mark indicating that something has been left out." An Ellipsis is formed by repeating a charcter three times; usually periods or asterisks, but other charcters like dashes or pound signs are used in some contexts. (Like using ### between scenes, for example.)

If you can't say what the missing information might be, then an ellipsis is the wrong punctuation.

Pauses and hesitations are properly punctuated according the the length of the pause and the context, using commas, en-dashes (-), Em-dashes (--), and semicolons. (Note, the single character em-dash used by most word processers doesn't translate to HTML, so using a double-dash is the best way to type it for online submissions. There are HTML codes that will display an em-dash properly, but in word processer or plain text formats, it shows up as the code instad of the character.)

 

[Liar]

The best way to understand when an ellipsis is appropriate is to remember that the definition is "a punction mark indicating that something has been left out." An Ellipsis is formed by repeating a charcter three times; usually periods or asterisks, but other charcters like dashes or pound signs are used in some contexts. (Like using ### between scenes, for example.)

If you can't say what the missing information might be, then an ellipsis is the wrong punctuation.

Pauses and hesitations are properly punctuated according the the length of the pause and the context, using commas, en-dashes (-), Em-dashes (--), and semicolons. (Note, the single character em-dash used by most word processers doesn't translate to HTML, so using a double-dash is the best way to type it for online submissions. There are HTML codes that will display an em-dash properly, but in word processer or plain text formats, it shows up as the code instad of the character.)

When in doubt waitt for Harold. Thanks.

It seems the em-dash ("Em-dash"? Never heard the term before, but ok.) is the weapon of choice that I'm after. So, this is more proper then?

"Two plus two? That would be--uuh--hmm--something."

Or should I add space? Like -- so?

I can use extended ASCII to make the longer dash.

"Two plus two? That would be─uuh─hmm─something."

That's perfectly useable in HTML as far as I know. (Hmm, looked weird in this font. I must have done something wrong. Forget the exteded ASCII, doesn't seem to work for this.)


I thought semicolons were a more specific gramattical device than something to indicate a pause.

 

[impressive]

If you follow the "details" link under Coming Together (in my sig), and scroll down to the bottom of the post, there's an article linked on proper use of ellipses.

 

[Weird Harold]

It seems the em-dash ("Em-dash"? Never heard the term before, but ok.) is the weapon of choice that I'm after. So, this is more proper then?

"Two plus two? That would be--uuh--hmm--something."

Or should I add space? Like -- so?

I add the spaces because MS Word won't wrap properly without them and it messes up the spell-check.

Em-dash and En-dash are printers' terms for a long dash and a short dash (or hyphen) respectively and come from the fact that an Em-dash is the same width as the letter M and the short dash is the same width as the letter N.

The Extended ASCII code does work in HTML, but it depends on whether a particular page or browser are set to use Extended ASCII or pure ASCII. That's why HTML has predefined "variables" for most of the Extended ASCII code and accented characters; the "variables" allow the browser to correctly interpret what was intended instead of "guessing" at which Extended ASCII character set is being used.

 

[Liar]

Found the right ectended ascii for em dash, I think:
—

But for html compliance, — is better. ( & # 8 2 1 2 ; )

 

[Guest]

 

[Liar]

By the way:

http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses/astro201/images/draw_ellipse.gif