Wow! Time has slipped past me at lightning speed. I can’t believe it has been so long since I have written a new blog post. I took a little break to travel, spend time with family, and rethink my blog.
When I first started my blog, I thought I knew what direction to go. I would combine my life coaching with my writing knowledge and voila; I would have an instant hit. I was thrilled when I started gaining followers and getting comments. Yippee! I thought. I am a blogger. Then I started putting out feelers, asking my blog readers if I was going in the right direction. I learned that maybe I wasn’t. After considering people’s comments, I concluded that my first posts were possibly too heavy on the life coaching side and too light on the writing side. Today, I continue to try to find my way as a blogger. One thing I know for sure is that my number one goal is to remain authentic in my blogging journey and to have that shine through in my posts. I hope you will bear with me as I plant my blogger seeds, dig in my roots, and grow. In the process, I will do my best to offer value in my posts.
ELLIPSES
Today, I offer my thoughts on something that picture book writers often use; the ellipsis point (sometimes referred to as the ellipsis mark). We use these marks to indicate the omission of words, faltering or interrupted dialogue, or to create a pause. In my years of reviewing other writer’s work, I have noticed that the ellipsis mark is often used or formatted incorrectly.
According the CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE, ellipsis points are three spaced periods (. . .), sometimes preceded or followed by other punctuation. They must always appear together on the same line, but preceding punctuation may appear at the end of the line above. This is a minute portion of what the CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE has to say about ellipses.
FORMATTING
Most commonly in the US, there is a space between each dot, and there are only three dots, unless other punctuation is involved. When there is no punctuation, there should be a space after the last word before the first dot in the ellipsis point. The following is an example of an ellipsis point used in dialogue to indicate an interruption.
Jack said, “I meant to say . . .”
“Meant to say what?” Emily interrupted.
Following is a breakdown of the above example: “I meant to say(space)(dot)(space)(dot)(space)(dot)”
When an ellipsis is used between words, there should be a space after the last word before the ellipsis. There should also be a space after the last ellipsis dot before the next word. Following is an example.
“I . . . um . . . hmm . . . guess so.”
Following is a breakdown of the above example: “I(space)(dot)(space)(dot)(space)(dot)(space) um(space)(dot)(space)(dot)(space)(dot)(space)hmm(space)(dot)(space)(dot)(space)(dot)(space)guess so.”
If there is a full sentence that ends in a period, there should be four spaced dots with the first dot (period) immediately following the last word of the sentence. Following is an example.
Emily loved her time with her grandparents, except for one thing. . . .
Following is a breakdown of the above example: Emily loved her time with her grandparents, except for one thing(period)(space)(dot)(space)(dot)(space)(dot)
This is only a partial description and explanation of ellipses. There are many rules and uses. The rules get even more complicated when using ellipses to indicate eliminated words in a quote. The purpose of this little blurb is to bring writers’ awareness to the proper spacing and use of these little dot, dot, dots. Not wanting to risk giving you wrong information by providing further examples, I offer the following: If you want to ensure that you are using these little dots correctly in your writing, I encourage you to go to the library and spend some time with a style or grammar manual. Odds are, if you refer to THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE, your head will swim, but it will be worth it.
Alayne Kay Christian 
Thanks Alayne! I’m going to be scouring my reading materials for examples of properly formatted ellipses!
Enjoy your ellipses search, Cathy 🙂
I don’t want to edit this post and re-post, so I will put this in comments. I would love to hear from writers outside the US regarding what their style manuals say about ellipses. My husband reads The Economist, which has roots in Britain, but today is published internationally. He often notices that the punctuation in articles (especially use of commas) differs from common US style.
I never knew the dots were supposed to be separated by spaces! I always put them together and MS Word seems to be okay with that and treat it as a single unit. I need to buy my own copy of the Chicago Manual of Style. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Alayne!
Teresa, I have a vague memory of MS Word having a feature where it auto corrects ellipses, but then again, I might have dreamt it 🙂 It might be worth looking into. When I get some time, I think I will.
Teresa, I forgot to say The Chicago Manual of Style is worth the money. If I am not careful, I can lose days looking through that thing. A great little book and quick read is Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style.”
I love ellipses…and I use ’em wrong…every time 😉 🙂 Thanks so much for this post! I will be back for more 🙂
I’m glad you found it helpful, Elizabeth Rose, I look forward to seeing you come back.
Thanks for the information, Alayne! I would love to read another post on when to use ellipses, I am sure I use too many in my stories.
I live in Australia, the study guide I used in my course with the Australian College of Journalism (Cert of Professional Children’s Writing) last year, says to use a space before and after the ellipses points, but mentions or shows nothing to indicate there should be spaces in between the points.
That is interesting, Yvonne. I appreciate you sharing. Because we are connected with writers from all over the country, I was curious if there was a difference in ellipses. It is also why I stressed my examples were common use in US. Do you know what style guide is generally used in Australia? I did a quick search and found the list below. But it appears The Associated Press one might be the most commonly used. The link below offers an article that says Associated Press Style Guide suggests a space before and after, but the dots are together. They compare it to Chicago Manual of Style that says a space before and after with spaces between dots. I didn’t read the full article, but thought I would share the link anyway. If you have a nearby library, or you could use the college library, you might enjoy reading up on ellipses in a style guide. The librarian could point you in the right direction.
http://www.apvschicago.com/2011/05/em-dashes-and-ellipses-closed-or-spaced.html
Sydney Morning Herald Style Guide
Australian Associated Press ( AAP) Style Guide
Handbook for journalists: Reuters
The Guardian Style Guide
The Economist Style Guide
The Associated Press Style Book.
News Ltd Style