[Forum] RE: Dialogue, Ellipses, and Punctuation

IMO using any punctuation after an ellipsis defeats its very purpose here, which is to indicate trailing speech. By definition nothing happens after trailing speech. A period before the ellipsis doesn't make sense because the sentence does not end. The poor ellipsis is a quiet, lonely, and rather me

[Forum] Overuse of ellipsis

I have a ms in which author uses ellipsis to indicate missing text in quoted material in what I find to be irritating due to overuse. For example: To plan for the raid, the colonel told the men to "seize their weapons . . . before . . . they had time . . . to return fire . . . upon their troops." Th

[Forum] RE: Capitalization after Ellipsis in Quotation

CMOS advises (per my link above) replacing the cheesy single-glyph three-dot ellipsis character with their standard version: space, dot, space, dot, space, dot, space. If the ellipsis character is used, it should usually have a space before and after it, although it appears no one does that in reali

[Forum] RE: Ellipsis ending dialogue

A comma doesn't follow other punctuation marks, such as an exclamation point or question mark. Ellipses are unique in that when they complete a sentence, an additional ellipsis point is added to close the sentence. An ellipsis isn't used on its own as an ending to a sentence.

[Forum] Capitalization after Ellipsis in Quotation

In a quotation that's quite lengthy and rambling, I want to cut the end of one sentence, replacing that material with an ellipsis, then join it to another complete sentence, cutting out some of the rambling without changing the point the speaker is making. The first letter of the word at the beginni

[Forum] RE: Bracketed Ellipsis

Hmm this was driving me a bit batty because I know I've seen it around somewhere. Eventually I came across this in section [url=http://www.mlahandbook.org/private/handbook/hb3.7.5]3.7.5[/url] of the MLA Handbook: [quote]QUOTATION WITH AN ADDED ELLIPSIS In N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn,

[Forum] RE: Ellipsis and Multiple Sentences Omitted

Thank you for your reply. Should there be a space between the question mark and the ellipsis or not?

[Forum] RE: Ellipsis

I'm not wild about the wording of this sentence in general. I also don't understand why you "need" to put an ellipsis between the two sentences. Could you please explain?

[Forum] RE: Ellipsis

If it's an exact quote that can't be altered, then, yes, I believe you have it punctuated correctly with the ellipsis.

[Forum] Capitalization at beginning of quotation preceded by ellipsis?

I know CMOS doesn't recommend beginning even an incomplete quotation with an ellipsis, but I've run into a situation where a writer wants it and, I think, has good reason. The story opens like this: ". . . and they all lived happily ever after." Or is it: ". . . And they all lived happily ever