weaver@spdcc.COM (Read Weaver) (07/13/89)
In article <1188@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu> jwright@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu.UUCP (Jim Wright) writes: > >And how about a new can of worms? :-) Let's talk about ellipses. Is >there only one way to set them? It seems they have two uses: to >indicate an uncompleted thought or truncated quote, or to indicate the >absence of text. In the first case, I leave no space between the ellipse >and the text. I don't use the second case often, but apparently the >ellipse ought to have space on both sides. Correct? Am I leaving >something out? In American English, ellipses are used, occasionally, for an uncompleted thought--sort of a stammer-ish pause. They are not used (if I understand you correctly) for a truncated quote; i.e., not for suddenly cut off dialog. (This is the Anglo-English usage; in the U.S. use an em-dash.) They are principally used to indicate that material has been left out of quoted text. In this usage, 3 dots indicate text within a sentence has been ommitted; 4 dots indicate the omission of 1) the last part of the quoted sentence, 2) the first part of the next sentence, 3) a whole sentence or more, 4) a whole paragraph or more. With 3 dots, they are separated from the surrounding text (or punctuation) and each other by 3-to-em spaces. With 4 dots, the first is a period (immediately next to the last word) followed by the 3-to-em - spaced 3 dots. (If the terminal punctuation is a ! or a ?, it replaces the period). It is perhaps worth noting that 3 dots *always* is an at-least-marginally- acceptable style. Note that this is not the same as Kate Turabian, a U.S. authority on typescript (i.e., monospaced type). >Does anyone have suggestions on a reference as to how to use and >typeset the English language? It seems I could use one. :-) > The _Chicago Manual of Style_, 13th ed., is one of the standard style manuals for American English. (University of Chicago Press, 1982.)