Ellipsis - Roland Stroud

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three dots with spaces. (Terminal punctuation includes ‘.’, ‘?’, ‘!’, and sometimes ‘:’.) The following example demonstrates the various principles: Original: Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon in England. As a young man, he went to London, maybe took some odd jobs here and there, and soon became a prominent actor and playwright. He was also a shareholder in the Globe theater, where his plays were performed. Don’t you think those are good accomplishments for a small-town boy? With ellipsis: Shakespeare was born . . . in Stratford-on-Avon in England. As a young man, he went to London . . . and soon became a prominent actor and playwright. He was also a shareholder in the Globe theater. . . . Don’t you think those are good accomplishments? . . . A SIMPLER METHOD OF ELLIPSIS 1.1.6 A more sensible approach is to use three dots for ellipsis in all instances to connect text to text, with spaces separating the dots from each other and the surrounding text. The Chicago Manual of Style (14th edition, 1994) prefers the standard method outlined above but will allow this simpler method, provided that the author uses it consistently. Termination of the quotation still requires four dots (or a question mark or exclamation point, followed by three dots): Shakespeare was born . . . in Stratford-on-Avon in England. As a young man, he went to London . . . and soon became a prominent actor and playwright. He was also a shareholder in the Globe theater . . . Don’t you think those are good accomplishments? . . . CAPITALIZATION AFTER ELLIPSIS 1.1.7 The first word after an ellipsis, if it is not already the beginning of a sentence, may be left in lower case, introduced with a bracketed capital, or simply capitalized. Conservative authorities pedantically require the use of a bracketed capital, in all scholarly works, to show that the word did not originally begin a sentence. The following examples illustrate capitalization and the optional use of three or four dots: Scholarly: Shakespeare was born in 1564. . . . [H]e went to London, maybe took some odd jobs here and there, and soon became a prominent actor. . . . Shakespeare was born in 1564 . . . [H]e went to London, maybe took some odd jobs here and there, and soon became a prominent actor. . . . Acceptable: Shakespeare was born in 1564. . . . he went to London, maybe took some odd jobs here and there, and soon became a prominent actor. . . . Shakespeare was born in 1564. . . . He went to London, maybe took some odd jobs here and there, and soon became a prominent actor. . . . Shakespeare was born in 1564 . . . He went to London, maybe took some odd jobs here and there, and soon became a prominent actor. . . . 2
CONSISTENCY 1.1.8 It is proper style to use the same method for representing ellipsis throughout the entirety of a work. It is not unusual to find lackadaisical writing with improperly placed groups of three or four dots, with no consistency whatever. SPACING OF DOTS 1.1.9 The spacing of the dots is important. Although it is common for writers to place the dots together with no spaces between them, such practice is generally unacceptable. As a rule, there should always be a space between any two dots, as well as between a dot and any other adjacent mark of punctuation. (See ELLIPSIS IN PLAYS & SCREENPLAYS, below, for the exception when using a monospaced font.) ELLIPSIS IN PLAYS & SCREENPLAYS 1.1.10 Exception to the rule. Dialogue lines in screenplays are very short (3-3½ inches). The standard font is monospaced Courier. <strong>Ellipsis</strong> dots with spaces gobble up a good deal of line length in a monospaced font that gives only ten characters per inch. Over a script of 115 pages, this lost space can add up. Moreover, word wrap in screenwriting software is not as sophisticated and customizable, at present, as in word processors. Dots may become separated at the end of a line when the line wraps. For these reasons it is better to omit the spaces between the dots. Obviously, this is an exception to the principles laboriously outlined above. 1.1.11 The current practice of handling ellipsis in screenplays appears to follow the whim of each writer. Nonetheless, it is possible to offer some guidelines which are a rational application and modification of the general principles already presented. 1.1.12 Four-dot method. Use of four-dot ellipsis (or ‘?’ or ‘!’, plus three dots) at the end of a grammatically complete unit, and three dots to link within the same sentence, is the most logical method. In the next example the ‘. . . .’ after today signals an end of the sentence and a pause or sudden change. The ‘? . . .’ after wrong is likewise the end of a sentence and the start of a break. The first dot (or ‘?’ or ‘!’) is printed up close to the preceding word. The ‘. . .’ between just and tell connects two fragments and has spaces before and after the group, since Please, just is not a complete sentence. Excellent form: HANK You look strange today.... What’s wrong?... Please, just ... tell me. 1.1.13 Three-dot method. Many writers cannot distinguish easily between text that is grammatically complete and text that is fragmentary. Fortunately, three-dot ellipsis, which is an acceptable method, keeps everything simple. As long as the dot group is preceded and followed by a space, three dots can connect a sentence to a sentence, a sentence to a fragment, or a fragment to a fragment. Although writers commonly use the three dots, they frequently fail to set the dot group off with spaces. It is noteworthy that formatting properly by adding spaces can actually save line space sometimes and sometimes result in fewer lines, because the spaces before and after the dot group allow better word wrap. The following examples illustrate this. 3
Page 1: 1. PUNCTUATION 1.1 Ellipsis OMISSIO
Page 5 and 6: HANK ... Yeah, I see it.... Anyway,

Ellipsis - Roland Stroud

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