Oh, ellipses . . .
Those three spaced periods can be used in so many ways.
First, let’s talk about spacing. An ellipsis is three spaced periods—a space before the first period, a space between each period, and a space after the last period. (Chicago Manual of Style §13.50)
This is how an ellipsis . . . is spaced.
Microsoft Word and other word processing programs have the ellipsis symbol, and some style guides (e.g., Australian Style Guide and New Hart’s Rules) allow it.
The ellipsis symbol looks like this … with a space before and after it.
Most often in fiction writing, the ellipsis signals a pause, a falter, or a shyness from the speaker or narrator. (CMOS §13.41) The ellipsis can also indicate when a sentence trails off or is left incomplete. (CMOS §13.55)
I think . . . I will talk about . . . ellipses today.
I can’t believe ellipses are . . .
In other writing, an ellipsis is “. . . used to signal the omission of a word, phrase, line, paragraph, or more from a quoted passage” as illustrated in this sentence. (CMOS §13.50)
There are more uses of the ellipsis, but these are the most common.
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