Workshop
And may it please the guests, the Prickly Pineapple presents today's writing workshop.
The ellipsis.
There are three dots in a dot-dot-dot.
You know, the "..." character. Yes, the three individual dots comprise a single character.
An ellipsis may be used at the end of a sentence, in which case it should be followed by a period; this makes a total and maximum of four dots. There should be a space before the ellipsis and between the ellipsis and the period.
Adding more dots does not make a statement more dramatic, nor does it strengthen a sense of anticipation. It is simply incorrect.
Perhaps it would be an interesting exercise to consider the reason that the online speakers of American English have collectively and subconsciously come to apply the "more is better" idea in this particular case. Is a longer stretch of dots a psychologic cue that turns the mind toward the silent implications of a path to follow, a blank to fill in? Perhaps it invokes the imagery of stretching (something) out longer, of a pregnant pause ... of watching the cars of a train go by, or a trail of ants leading your eye elsewhere.
It reminds me more of Yul Brenner bombastically bellowing et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!: grammatically incorrect and rooted in self-importance.
Personally, I am a fan of the underappreciated em dash.
Next workshop: beginning a sentence with a conjunction.
The ellipsis.
There are three dots in a dot-dot-dot.
You know, the "..." character. Yes, the three individual dots comprise a single character.
An ellipsis may be used at the end of a sentence, in which case it should be followed by a period; this makes a total and maximum of four dots. There should be a space before the ellipsis and between the ellipsis and the period.
Adding more dots does not make a statement more dramatic, nor does it strengthen a sense of anticipation. It is simply incorrect.
Perhaps it would be an interesting exercise to consider the reason that the online speakers of American English have collectively and subconsciously come to apply the "more is better" idea in this particular case. Is a longer stretch of dots a psychologic cue that turns the mind toward the silent implications of a path to follow, a blank to fill in? Perhaps it invokes the imagery of stretching (something) out longer, of a pregnant pause ... of watching the cars of a train go by, or a trail of ants leading your eye elsewhere.
It reminds me more of Yul Brenner bombastically bellowing et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!: grammatically incorrect and rooted in self-importance.
Personally, I am a fan of the underappreciated em dash.
Next workshop: beginning a sentence with a conjunction.
posted by CamoBunny at 12:39 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
heh! i thought of you when i wrote that.
an em dash is what you do when you finally arrive at a function a little late and are about to sit down but then suddenly realize you have to go #1.
just kidding. hold down alt and type in 0151 on the number pad.
don't know what to tell you. alt+0151 on the number pad (make sure numlock is on) should create one of these:
—
and conjunctions? haha. next time won't you sing with me?
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