How to Punctuate with Ellipses

by Heather R. Todd

Those three little dots that form an ellipsis (...) are so commonly peppered throughout text messaging, emails and informal writing that we can forget how they really should be used.

While they do tend to feature a lot in informal and conversational writing they can also be used in formal writing. However it is generally considered best to do so sparingly and to make sure you understand how to punctuate with them.

An ellipsis (the plural form is ellipses) appears as a row of three full stops or periods and is written as (...). This formation has been referred to as a triple-dot punctuation mark, a suspension point, points of ellipsis, periods of ellipsis and even dot-dot-dot.

These dots can be used almost anywhere in a sentence and are used to indicate when a word, sentence or section has been purposely omitted from the text. For example if you wanted to shorten someone's quote you could use an ellipsis to demonstrate that you have cut words or phrases from what they said.

This is common in news reporting when brevity is important, or perhaps only the relevant part of a longer quote is required. Whatever the case it should always be done in such a way as not to change or distort the meaning of what the person has originally said. In many cases this is a matter of integrity.

This is President John F. Kennedy's inaugural address in 1961:
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

If an ellipsis was used to shorten the quote but retain the original meaning it could be written as:
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price... in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

An ellipsis may also be used to censor language in explicit passages.

For example:
Ted told Jack to get the... out of there.

Ellipses in numerical formats can also be used to indicate an "and so forth" meaning.

For example:
1, 2, 3,..., 100

Ellipses are also used to indicate a pause or even falter in dialogue, any unfinished thoughts or speech, or even at the end of a sentence as if the thought/idea/subject trails off. This sort of intentional silence may be due to irritation, shock, uncertainty, confusion, dismay or so on. This kind of usage is particularly common in emails or texting.

For example:
We can talk about it tomorrow...

I'm not sure... perhaps it was Erica's bag?

While there may not always be something wrong, or grammatically incorrect, with using ellipses in all these ways, they should not be overused as it can also suggest you are unable to write a complete sentence. Older generations that are not so internet savvy often find this use of ellipses rather annoying.

Ellipses are also used to build suspense.

For example:
The winner is...

The use of an ellipsis at the end of a sentence in online formats or even comic strips can also suggest more information will be forthcoming - a kind of "to be continued" message.

For example:
Watch this space...

And in chat rooms and texting it can indicate a "no comment" response.

In informal writing the ellipsis has also become something of a "catch all" punctuation mark to replace use of commas, periods, colons, semicolons and so on.

About the author:
Ms. Todd is an award-winning, full-time professional editor, published writer and marketing consultant whose passion is to help others create a letter-perfect presentation in their writing. Her extensive experience in coaching and management has allowed her to independently consult for numerous international editing services and websites.

Ms. Todd is an independent contractor who provides advisory and consulting services worldwide to numerous corporations, a small sampling of such businesses include:• www.firstediting.com