Ellipsis Usage Style

KeeperAbra’s Ellipsis Style Guide

2023-06-18 by KeeperAbra

There are tons of style guides out there that each have a different way of dealing with ellipses. Some of them treat an ellipsis as a word in itself, needing spaces on either side. Others treat them as punctuation marks, with no spaces at all. They all agree that an ellipsis may indicate a pause, omission, suspension, or trailing thought.

None of them agree on whether there should be spaces around them, or whether they should be squeezed up against punctuation marks. There are also variations in whether they should be used for suspension or pauses at all.

My style is to use ellipses to give voice to character speech and add dramatic pauses in prose. I have five (5) styling variations for different use cases:

1. 1. 1. No spaces on either side of the ellipsis: I use this when cutting between words inside a clause. E.g. “I believe...in nothing.”

      2. Spaces on either side of the ellipsis: used when cutting between two clauses. The cut may be before or after a conjunction. E.g. “I know that … but I can’t accept it!” or “I know that, but … I can’t believe it!” Adding spaces to both sides creates balanced contrast between the two clauses. (Note how a comma is not used in the first example. This is because it introduces a redundant pause.)

      3. Space only after ellipsis: used when trailing at the end of a sentence, and a new sentence or newline begins immediately after. E.g. “This is the path I must take... You know that” or “Nevertheless, this is the path I must take... <newline>” The trailing space sets the next sentence apart as its own thing. (In the newline case, the trailing space is not necessary. It’s just there because my word processor only replaces triple periods with proper Unicode ellipses after I hit space.)

      4. Ellipsis at the beginning of a character’s speech: used when they have a punctuated moment of thought before speaking. E.g. She said, “...If that’s what you want.” (Note the speech tag is still punctuated accordingly.)

      5. Dramatic repetition: E.g. “I...I didn’t want to do this.” This is contrasted with a stutter—e.g. “I-I didn’t want to do this”—by a longer pause and more solemn mood.

In general, the decision to add spaces around ellipses is based on considerations of aesthetic effects: group things together by removing spaces, while add spaces to create more contrast. There are, of course, other considerations. Compare the following:

• • • “Kill me... If that’s what you want.”

    • “Kill me … if that’s what you want.”

The second one feels like it’s all just one sentence, even if there are spaces. This is because of the capitalization of “if.” This creates a nuance: the first sentence feels as if “If that’s what you want” was tacked on, more like an afterthought, whereas the second sentence feels as if the speaker was just holding off on saying the last part.

All things considered, my style is something created with artistic license, expecting that I will not be traditionally published; traditional publishers and those “in the industry” each have their own official style guides when it comes to these things. They might accept experimental styling, but there ought to be limits.

I hope this guide gave you some good ideas! —KA