Writing Tip: Ellipses

This week’s writing tip is about ellipses, the dot-dot-dots that are often added to writing. To me, the ellipsis is a mood-maker for the sentence. It stutters showing confusion or intense emotion. It can also drift into silence, indicating a wandering mind or distracted situation.

The correct way to write an ellipsis is to space at the end of the word that precedes the mark, then add the three periods, and follow them

with another space before the next word. *** Okay, I'd been corrected this summer by an author who knows her stuff, but I've learned that according to Chicago Manual of Style that spaces are correct between the periods. Looking like this . . . thanks David!*** If there is no next word because the conversation ebbs in the middle of a sentence, the final period is all that is necessary.

Here are examples of the two situations described:

“What do you mean he isn’t there? Where could he . . .  I mean, are you sure?”

 “Like a cloud, dancing across the water. That’s what I feel like. So very sleepy. I could just
      drift off without . . . ”

Another use of an ellipsis is in the case of an interruption. Sometimes the topic never comes back around as in this example.

“Whatever the noise was it was awfully loud. I thought the sky was about . . . ”
“Did you hear that?” Chris’s outburst filled the room as he ran in, his muddy boots spraying
       clumps of dirt all over Ma’s rug.

Sometimes the interruption, like part of an argument, has a finish to it.

“All I know is I sat here calmly reading and you . . . ”
“I didn’t do anything except walk into the room.”
“. . . you demanded my attention with every stomp and sigh. Okay, what do you want?”

In that case, as you can see, the ellipsis ends the first section of the interruption and begins the second half of that sentence. It wouldn’t work if more than just the interruption itself was stuck into the section. At that point, the first part should be entirely restated and then finished.

I double checked my data with my new copy of the Chicago Manual of Style! (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE getting presents!) And with some of you guys looking over my shoulder, I know we're gonna make sure the information is right!

Do you have any other examples of ellipsis use?

Blessings!

Writer Tip - Fragmented

Fragmented sentences are tricky little guys. They'd like you to think they are acceptable because they express things the way we speak.

Well, okay. End of article.

No, it's not that simple.

They are okay in things like novels where the writing is polished, but not formal. The narration is done in the author's voice and expressed through a

character's point of view. So not only do you hear the way the author thinks, all of the words go through a second filter making sure they are true to the way the character thinks.

If the main character is male, there are going to be fragments. Just sayin'. And if the poor fella is from the south, have mercy on him! Jeff Foxworthy said that Texas was the only place he knew where "I tell you what" was it's own complete sentence. There's nothing else. That's it. Big fat period.

So there are places, like blogs ... ahem ... where fragments are completely acceptable. Even preferred. (For instance, if I said in the last sentence, "They're even preferred," you would not only lose my voice and the way I talk, but the sentence itself wouldn't latch onto the one before it quite as tightly.)

However, don't fill up a college essay, research paper, or thesis with a bunch of fragments. (Oh and don't use bunch either.) Your teacher/prof will surely count off, but that's not the worst part. When you show such obvious mistakes, your teacher will miss the point. How can you share how brilliant you are when you leave out necessary parts of speech? It's like forgetting to capitalize the first letter of a sentence.

Every sentence in formal writing needs a simple subject and a simple predicate (that's a noun and verb or as I taught my 4th graders, "Who did what?") In formal writing you will most likely not use the word you in your paper nor imply it, so every sentence should actually have it's own STAR. A person, place, thing, or idea that takes action or has being in your sentence. And that action or being is what the STAR does or is. (IE the verb.) Once you connect with those two parts you're on a down hill slide. Just make sure you don't leave your STAR hanging anywhere.  Jazy Josey ran to the window when she was supposed to be.

Um ... excuse me, but inquiring minds wanna know. What was Josey supposed to be doing? Yeah, don't do that. Make sure your sentence ties itself up in a little bow. Keeping it's arms and legs firmly within the sentence.

Are fragments a trouble spot for you? What is your grammar t-zone?

May your satisfaction overflow!