Okay, as part of my (new) job, I have to edit text so that it’s grammatically correct. This is rather straightforward…most of the time. However, I’m having a rather difficult time with one particular punctuation mark: the ellipsis. Now, this is not the ellipsis as used in academic writing to indicate omission of content, but the ellipsis as used in casual writing or a story, to indicate a pause or trailing off by the speaker (as in the second sentence of this post).
Now, I’ve always thought that with an end-of-sentence ellipsis, you have the three dot ellipsis, and that’s it. However, I’ve also seen sentences end with an ellipsis and a period (and thus, four dots), which some people have told me is correct. I also discussed this issue with my mother, who’s an English teacher (yes, I’m that big of a loser that I spend my free time talking about punctuation issues with my mom on a Saturday night…), and she said that you should end a sentence with just an ellipsis – no period. The online grammar sites seem to say conflicting things, so now I’m just confused.
So, are there any ellipsis experts out there that can give me confirmation one way or the other?
The whole point about a trailing elipsis is that it doesn’t have an end; it just trails off. So surely it’s appropriate to omit the period? Three dots, with spaces between.
There are a few exceptions, but a majority of style guides you will consult will give a variation of:
From here. This style guide claims to be “based on three common style guides: the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Medical Association (AMA) stylebook” and offers similar information.
The original intent of the ellipsis was to indicate dropped words, and from that perspective, the trailing period makes sense: first there is an ellipsis (showing that something is missing); then there is a period to end the sentence.
Of course, the use of the ellipsis to indicate a pause undoes that original logic.
Hence, you get conflicting claims (both from the manuals and from the SDMB). Your best bet would be to check with whoever will be cross-checking your work to see what they prefer, explaining that you understand the differences behind each format , but that you want to perform to their expectations. (Remember that every grammar maven believes that only s/he is maintaining Truth in writing, so arguing the point is futile.)
I agree that you should check with your employer: there is no hard-and-fast rule. I always used to go with four dots, but my current employer’s house style is to use only three.
In mathematical statements 3 dots indicate a continuing pattern or series. I believe the use of similar punctuation in normal writing is an outgrowth of that practice.
Another question, related. If you are using the four-dot method, is it ellipsis, then period, or period, then ellipsis? Which comes first, or does it depend on the situation?
I’d agree that you’d need to consult your style manual, especially because the ellipsis to denote a trailing thought is informal. Most style manuals I remember only address the ellipsis as missing words within a quote.
The general rule seems to be that an ellipsis consists of three periods – but does not in and of itself end a sentence. Therefore, a sentence that is syntactically declarative takes four dots – three to constitute the ellipsis and the fourth as a sentence-ending period. But an exclamation or question would take three followed by an exclamation point or question mark.
No, sorry, I disagree with Polycarp and so does the Chicago Manual of Style, 13th edition.
This is obvious if you think about it. The ellipsis signifies missing material. There is nothing missing between the end of a sentence and its punctuation and so it is misleading to let the reader think that there is.
In some computer text formatting systems, e.g., TeX, the “three dots” are a single unit and are not considered periods. The program in no way treats them like periods. Periods require special handling regarding spacing and such. The spacing inside elipses is (more or less) fixed. The space after elipses is standard inter-word space and not after-period spacing. So a beginner might use “three dots” instead of the elipsis symbol and it will come out all ugly.
Here’s the way I’d do it, using a pointless edit of (picking at random) Poly’s post above as an illustration.
The editing isn’t meant to meaningfully condense the text; it merely shows examples of the two approaches in action. The first ellipsis, three dots only, comes in the middle of the first edited sentence, replacing words within the sentence, and thus is three dots. The second ellipsis replaces words (in this case, just one word) at the beginning of a sentence, so the terminal period of the preceding sentence is retained.
That’s the way I’d do it, anyway.
If it’s informal, say in dialogue (“I went to the… uh…” mumbled Joe), I’d say it’s almost always an incomplete sentence and thus calls for the three-dot ellipsis.
Thanks for all the answers…but now I’m even more confused! I think I’ll ask my bosses about it – I’ve been reluctant, since I was supposedly hired because I usually know about this stuff…/…
I think I’ll ask my bosses about it – I’ve been reluctant, since I was supposedly hired because I usually know about this stuff…/…