the ellipsis…

Perhaps you are a frequent user of the ellipse: punctuation "used to mark an omission from quoted speech or text … or to signal an incomplete or unstated thought, or a pause or gap in speech or text." (Chicago Manual of Style)

There are two avenues to using an ellipse correctly: when to use it* and how to type it. This ITmail focuses on how to type it. 

The easiest way to create an ellipse is to type dot dot dot (...). Done! An ellipse. Three keystrokes. (On a Mac keyboard, you can shorten it to two keystrokes by typing the option key followed by the semi-colon (;)). 

Seems simple enough, but more often than not I see an ellipse typed as six characters: dot space dot space dot space (. . .). Perhaps this is meant to be sure it is noticed, or to represent a longer omission or more measured thought.

Here's where this type of ellipse gets you into trouble:

• If your ellipse nears the right margin and the three dots become two dots on one line and one dot on the next line. Ugh!

• A six-character ellipse counts as three characters instead of one; this may be important if your document has a character limit, or you are posting on Twitter, which definitely has a character limit.

An ellipse can be a very effective writing tool. Please use it correctly.

* To read more about ellipses, check out this article: https://cmosshoptalk.com/2019/07/30/dot-dot-dot-a-closer-look-at-the-ellipsis/