Total Ellipses

In my last post, I remarked that we were going to look at the most common use of periods in fiction after terminating a sentence: ellipses.

First, a clarification. Ellipses is the plural of both ellipse (oval) and ellipsis (the punctuation mark that we make by banging the period key three times). Though the words don’t seem related, they have the same etymological root, a Greek verb that means to fall short (an ellipsis indicates that the sentence has been shortened, and an ellipse has fallen short of becoming a perfect circle).

Since an ellipsis indicates missing words, it would seem related to the verb elide, meaning to omit. But it’s coincidental; elide comes from a Latin root.

Okay, we’ve already hinted at what ellipses are for: to show that you’ve left out some words. Very useful if you want to pare down a long quote. Or to shade the truth.

Complete quote: Senator Bluster declared, “It will be my priority to nullify the special circumstances clause of the health code that permits restaurants to sauté unwanted children.”

Quote in Bluster’s campaign literature: Senator Bluster declared, “It will be my priority to nullify the . . . clause of the health code that permits restaurants to sauté unwanted children.”

Quote in Bluster’s rival’s literature: Senator Bluster declared, “It will be my priority to . . . sauté unwanted children.”

The ellipsis means, “Here he said more, but you’ll have to go look it up to find out what.” Note that the sentence remains grammatically correct despite the removal of some words.

Okay if you’re a journalist or a spinmeister. But in fiction, you probably won’t be doing a lot of quoting from external sources. Why, then, are ellipses so popular in novels?

Well, the notion that the ellipsis represents missing words makes it appropriate for when a line of dialogue trails off:

Senator Bluster responded with uncertainty. “I wouldn’t call it a kickback, it was more of a . . .” He glanced at his watch. “No more questions.”

This ellipsis means, “Here he was going to say more, but he didn’t.” Not quite the same as the non-fiction equivalent. This sentence is incomplete without the missing words. But we’ll never know what those words are unless we can access the transcript of the unspoken words in Bluster’s mind: “I wouldn’t call it a kickback, it was more of a bag of free product samples from Mega-Bank.”

The ellipsis doesn’t own the franchise on missing words, though. When the speech does not trail off but ends abruptly, as with an interruption, we use an em dash:

Senator Bluster cleared his throat. “It wasn’t a kickback, it was more of an incenti—”

Cooperson Ander interrupted. “An incentive to authorize creation of the Yellowstone National Landfill?”

Since trailing off implies a protracted silence, the ellipsis seems appropriate anyplace we would hear a long pause. So it crops up in hesitant speech:

Senator Bluster responded with uncertainty. “I believe . . . what I do in private . . . is my business, even . . . in a public restroom.”

Note that this is even farther from the concept of the non-fiction ellipsis; no words are actually missing from this sentence, and it reads just fine (and pathetic) with no ellipses at all.

You may have noticed the comma in that example. A comma implies a pause too, though not as long as an ellipsis. If Bluster hesitated there, the ellipsis would trump the comma:

Senator Bluster responded with uncertainty. “I believe . . . what I do in private . . . is my business . . . even in a public restroom.”

Beginning writers also like to use the ellipsis for dramatic or ironic effect. Somehow that longer-than-average pause, forcing the reader to wait just a little longer for the payoff, makes an ellipsis the natural choice. Even when it would be grammatically correct to use:

· A comma: Attendees at Senator Bluster’s fundraiser had Gulf shrimp cocktail, sushi, crab salad . . . and intestinal flu.

· A semicolon: Senator Bluster’s pamphlet used large type to emphasize his support for elder issues . . . in 3-point font it mentioned his plan to abolish Medicare.

· An em dash: Senator Bluster’s campaign manager served the people of Kansas loyally for seven years . . . in the state penitentiary.

While none of these are egregiously wrong . . . overuse of the ellipsis can become . . . tacky. Those three dots . . . and the excess whitespace above . . . stick out on a manuscript page. A potential publisher sees all those gaps in your text . . . and knows that you’re addicted to the ellipsis . . . that you’re under the mistaken assumption . . . that a string of three dots . . . equals drama. Before they get through chapter one . . . your manuscript might get recycled.

Probably the best way to approach ellipses is to limit yourself to three per page. Then try to eliminate six of them.

(Continued)