silly newbie question. How to stammer?

[Harryasaboy]

I just finished my second draft of my very first submission and I'm trying to make the editor's life a little easier by ironing out as many wrinkles as possible before sending it.
Which marks do I use to indicate stammering? I I I don't know which marks should I use. Ellipsis, comma, semicolon or colon?

 

[FelicityJohns]

No such thing as a silly question. I did a quick search for you, and a hyphen is suggested here.

http://dictionary.reference.com/writing/styleguide/punctuation.html

"I-I-I didn't kn-kn-know the difference..."

HTH

 

[Harryasaboy]

I-i-i

thank you. Is this the proper forum for such questions?

 

[FelicityJohns]

thank you. Is this the proper forum for such questions?

I believe so, yes

 

[sr71plt]

"I . . . I . . . I . . . don't know what marks to use."

Use these (the ellipses) according to the Chicago Manual of Style (13.39).

 

[Jose_Rick]

"I-I-I didn't kn-kn-know the difference..."

"I . . . I . . . I . . . don't know what marks to use."

To my ear, these are quite different. The former is more of a stutter. The latter sounds like someone who can't quite form their thought into words.

 

[sr71plt]

To my ear, these are quite different. The former is more of a stutter. The latter sounds like someone who can't quite form their thought into words.

That's nice. I cited an authoritative source in U.S. publishing. Writers are free to chose to do it by your preference here on Lit. or in keeping with how it's done in publishing.

 

[Jose_Rick]

That's nice. I cited an authoritative source in U.S. publishing. Writers are free to chose to do it by your preference here on Lit. or in keeping with how it's done in publishing.

I'm happy your source is authoritative. I'm sure I'll hear it entirely differently now.

 

[robertreams]

Felicity, how cum your research doesn't support your answer? I saw no reference to a stutter.

 

[robertreams]

Sorry Jose, I hear no difference, but I am pretty sure the en dashes are not correct.

 

[kismet999]

another take on it...via fandom-grammar.livejournal.com

Text below by EM Dash in fandom-grammar.livejournal.com:

"Stammer with the, the, the Comma
A stammer is very similar to a stutter, except a stammer incorporates a complete word. Because of that a stammer is punctuated with a comma, rather than a hyphen; it's how you can tell the difference between:

stutter He was in-in-incapacitated.
stammer He was in, in, in the bathroom.


Here you can see that the hyphen shows that the word is incomplete (and thus a stutter) and that the comma is indicating a complete word.

While a stutter is a neurological and physiological speech impediment, a stammer can simply be brought on by stress and excitement, which means anyone could stammer. Stammers typically center on short words, what I like to think of as "filler" words—words that lie between the big ideas of a sentence and are those places where a character might lose a train of thought for a moment or need a break to map out their sentence. Instead of stopping their speech, a stammerer repeats those "filler" words while they chase down their thoughts to get their words out."

 

[_Lynn_]

Text below by EM Dash in fandom-grammar.livejournal.com:

"Stammer with the, the, the Comma
A stammer is very similar to a stutter, except a stammer incorporates a complete word. Because of that a stammer is punctuated with a comma, rather than a hyphen; it's how you can tell the difference between:

stutter He was in-in-incapacitated.
stammer He was in, in, in the bathroom.


Here you can see that the hyphen shows that the word is incomplete (and thus a stutter) and that the comma is indicating a complete word.

While a stutter is a neurological and physiological speech impediment, a stammer can simply be brought on by stress and excitement, which means anyone could stammer. Stammers typically center on short words, what I like to think of as "filler" words—words that lie between the big ideas of a sentence and are those places where a character might lose a train of thought for a moment or need a break to map out their sentence. Instead of stopping their speech, a stammerer repeats those "filler" words while they chase down their thoughts to get their words out."

Pilot gave the correct way to show a stammer and cited the U.S. publishing authoritative source (Chicago Manual of Style). Other ways are personal preference.

"I . . . I . . . I . . . don't know what marks to use."

 

[Jose_Rick]

Sorry Jose, I hear no difference, but I am pretty sure the en dashes are not correct.

They're not, as far as standards are concerned. I never intended to argue that point. I'm just saying when I read both they sounded different to my ears. Your mileage may vary.

If you're wondering what to write, it's always a good bet to follow established guidelines. However, those guidelines are based in large part on what's in common use. If everyone started using dashes, it would eventually become an accepted standard.

In the meantime, an author is free to follow established standards, or not. There are, for example, established standards for dialogue. That hasn't stopped Cormac McCarthy from writing dialogue without quotes or attributions.