Editing with the Ellipsis

There are times in writing or editing when you want to show that something has been omitted from the original version. There also are times when you want to express that there are pauses in a speaker’s statement or to indicate a trailing off of thought.

The ellipsis — three periods with a space before and after, structured just as you would create a three-letter word — is the punctuation used for these purposes.

Omissions
Here are two examples of online news reports where an ellipsis shows that they have been altered:

Original
“Mr. Hayward, whose position is thought to be under threat, risked further fury by continuing plans to pay out a dividend to investors next month.”

Edited
“Mr. Hayward … risked further fury by continuing plans to pay out a dividend to investors next month.”

Original
“In the short term, we want these claims to be responded to more quickly,” Gov. Crist said. “These people need help, and we need to be there to try to make them as whole as we can during this very difficult process.”

Edited
“In the short term, we want these claims to be responded to more quickly,” Gov. Crist said. “These people need help ... .” (Notice that a space and then a period follow the ellipsis.)

Pause or trailing off of thought
Here is an example of using an ellipsis to indicate a pause in a speaker’s statement; it implies a pause greater than what would be expressed by a comma:

He stammered, “I … I … I wanted to … um … I tried to … well, I really thought that I could get it done by this afternoon. I was wrong.”

And here is how an ellipsis would show a thought that trails off:
“I tried and tried to convince him, but I couldn’t. Oh, well …”

Use the ellipsis to show that a written statement has been altered, to indicate a pause that is greater than what would be expressed by another form of punctuation such as a comma, and to show a thought that trails off into silence.

Ruthless Editor follows The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law guidelines for word and punctuation usage. Webster's New World College Dictionary serves as a secondary reference.

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