Ellipses

[Reece]

Hey everyone,

As part of my next post, I've had may character fighting some zombies in the Moors, and in order to get a better idea of how to write out fight scenes, I thought I'd look over some of the competetive fights that have been posted here, and whilst doing so I noticed a tendency (most recently in the mock fight between Adam and Gamzee) for judges to mark people down for "misuse" of ellipses.
Now, I was not previously aware that using them to indicate a pause was actually wrong (and I'm fairly certain I've seen it done in more than a few books I've read), and so decided to look it up to find out more. I checked out a few different grammar sites, to find out how it was generally viewed by the grammar nazis writing community ... and apparently, none of them see anything wrong with it.

Every website I looked at suggested that an ellipsis was a perfectly suitable, grammatically appropriate way to mark a pause in a sentence, so I figured I'd post this topic to as why everyone here seems to consider that a mistake?

[Minato Namikaze]

Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Ancient Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission" or "falling short") is a series of dots (typically three, such as "…") that usually indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning.

Whereas, using it for just a pause, before returning to speech, without using to indicate the omission of a word would actually be the incorrect use of an ellipses.

[Trixie]

Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Ancient Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission" or "falling short") is a series of dots (typically three, such as "…") that usually indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning.

Whereas, using it for just a pause, before returning to speech, without using to indicate the omission of a word would actually be the incorrect use of an ellipses.

Informally it can be used as a pause for speech, because you're really just cutting off your characters thought aloud.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/when-to-use-ellipses.html">http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punct ... ipses.html</a><!-- m -->

You were quoting the Chicago Manual of Style which is this irritating and excruciating set of rules that apply for academic papers and formal writing. We write fiction, which in the grammar world, is considered informal writing.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.writingforward.com/grammar/punctuation-marks/punctuation-marks-ellipsis">http://www.writingforward.com/grammar/p ... s-ellipsis</a><!-- m --> (Your exact quote is on this page and right below it it goes into detail about how ellipses are used for speech in Fiction.)

Just as a heads up. I don't dock points for ellipses use in speech when I judge.

[Minato Namikaze]

Just as a heads up. I don't dock points for ellipses use in speech when I judge.

#TrixieForBestJudge2015 xD

[Trixie]

#TrixieForBestJudge2015 xD

You know it! :fuckyeah:

[Sasuke Uchiha]

I... I am just so... very, damn proud of this thread. xD

[Demetri Malius]

Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Ancient Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission" or "falling short") is a series of dots (typically three, such as "…") that usually indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning.

Whereas, using it for just a pause, before returning to speech, without using to indicate the omission of a word would actually be the incorrect use of an ellipses.

Informally it can be used as a pause for speech, because you're really just cutting off your characters thought aloud.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/when-to-use-ellipses.html">http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punct ... ipses.html</a><!-- m -->

You were quoting the Chicago Manual of Style which is this irritating and excruciating set of rules that apply for academic papers and formal writing. We write fiction, which in the grammar world, is considered informal writing.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.writingforward.com/grammar/punctuation-marks/punctuation-marks-ellipsis">http://www.writingforward.com/grammar/p ... s-ellipsis</a><!-- m --> (Your exact quote is on this page and right below it it goes into detail about how ellipses are used for speech in Fiction.)

Just as a heads up. I don't dock points for ellipses use in speech when I judge.

What about your opinion on ellipses outside of dialogue? Would it follow the academic rules then?

[Kakashi Hatake]

I usually don't use ellipses outside of dialogue. It just looks weird to me. Possibly because maybe I mentally have always considered non-dialogue to be formal? :iiam: