The Elusive Ellipsis
The ellipsis seems to be one of the most alluring punctuation symbols, and I see it misused everywhere. From student papers to billboards to everyday e-mails and chat logs, the ellipsis is tossed in willy-nilly and often extends to four, five, or even six dots.
I have to tell you, an extended ellipsis is just a bunch of dots.
The ellipsis—three consecutive dots—serves some specific purposes in writing.
If used correctly, an ellipsis can be quite effective, if not, it can be downright confusing.
Some of the right ways to use an ellipsis include… (see that, it works!):
1. The intentional omission of words
All employers must honor the minimum wage requirement….
The original sentence read:
All employers must honor the minimum wage requirement or risk paying a fine.
2. A pause in speech
“I think I just got an… interview!”
3. An unfinished thought
“Now, where on earth did I put that…?”
4. A sentence that trails into silence
“I thought you might say that….”
Pay special attention to an ellipsis that ends a sentence. It is the only time you should include four dots since the final dot serves as the period at the end of the sentence.
Stay tuned for a post about the correct use of the ellipsis in quoted sentences.
Andi on June 5, 2007 
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Good thing you clarified about the 4 dots. Many people get confused on that issue.
I have enjoyed reading this site for the past several days. You’ve provided some helpful tips so far and I look forward to many more.
Help me clear up some confusion, because I’ve been using ellipses a little differently ever since high school and college teachers beat them into me. According to those instructors, ellipses aren’t used to begin or end a sentence with omitted words. In other words, just start where you’re quoting and stop where you stop. Ellipses are used to show omitted words only when they appear in the middle of a sentence. At least according to my writing instructors. Interestingly, the style manual we used in college indicates your way is correct, which probably means either is acceptable.
And are you sure your use of the ellipsis in the sentence, “Some of the right ways to use an ellipsis include…” is correct? Rather than an ellipsis, shouldn’t that be a colon because you’re introducing a list?
Lastly (I promise, and I know this is right), ellipses should have spaces between the periods. So, instead of (…) it should be (. . .).
I promise I’m not trying to contrary.
I just want to make sure I’m using correct style and I have conflicting information.
Hi, Gregory, and thanks for your comments!
Like you, many of my writing teachers and professors through the years taught me not to use ellipses at the beginning or end of a sentence. And like you said, many style guides go against that, which also leads me to believe that either method is correct.
As for using ellipses within quotations, I have a whole post coming up about that.
And you’re correct again, when you point out my use of the ellipsis should probably be a colon. Since I was writing in such a conversational tone, I used the ellipsis as if I were letting my statement trail off. A bit of writing humor, albeit not terribly good humor.
Thank you for pointing out the issue of spaces. I neglected to mention that because Microsoft Word (and most other word processors to my knowledge) do that step for the writer. Something I certainly take for granted.
Thanks again for your interest in the site and your comments!
I am not sure about the space between the dots.
“According to Robert Bringhurst’s Elements of Typographic Style, the details of typesetting ellipses depend on the character and size of the font being set and the typographer’s preference. Bringhurst writes that a full space between each dot is “another Victorian eccentricity. In most contexts, the Chicago ellipsis is much too wide” — he recommends using flush dots, or thin-spaced dots (up to one-fifth of an em), or the prefabricated ellipsis character”
Thanks for this and the other articles about writing. I’m glad you went back to full RSS feed
In Denmark you have to put a space before the ellipsis (det kan skrives sådan …), so I was glad to learn about the English rules.
A/A
It is very good attempt to aware about the difficult words of english and get comments from others on it. I am a new entry and on the learning stage. If, possible, a written hand book may deliver.
Interesting…
One question: must you put a space before the ellipsis (MS Word seems to do this for me)?
Thanks for the info.
On a mac the keyboard shortcut OPTION+; (i.e. hold down the “option” key while pressing the “;” key) produces an ellipsis with no spaces between each dot. I’m not sure what the keyboard combination is in Windows.
Some additional ellipses usages:
“I like ice cream. . . . ” The first dot is the period of the sentence; therefore no space precedes that dot. The ellipses then follow.
“I like ice cream . . . ” This is not the end of the original sentence; therefore the ellipses follow with a preceding space.