What's "..." called?

ander

Golden Member
Jan 18, 2001
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I think that thing's called an ellipse...not sure, but I love 'em and use 'em all the time.
 

ander

Golden Member
Jan 18, 2001
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Punctuation [ellipses and elides]:
The ellipse is possibly the single most overused punctuation mark by amateur (and many professional!) writers. The ellipse is represented by three periods (or "pips") in a row ("..."). It is NEVER less than three or more than three. It is ALWAYS three.

An ellipse is used to indicate an incomplete thought, and takes the place of a period. It should NEVER be used to represent a pause! If you wish to indicate a pause, a comma, semi-colon, or colon should be used instead. Generally, grammatically complete sentences should not end in an ellipse. Only sentence fragments (those sentences which do not possess a subject, verb, and object) should end in an ellipse.
 

thawolfman

Lifer
Dec 9, 2001
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And if they didn't already answer your question...

el·lip·sis Pronunciation Key (-lpss)
n. pl. el·lip·ses (-sz)

1. a) The omission of a word or phrase necessary for a complete syntactical construction but not necessary for understanding.
b) An example of such omission.
2. A mark or series of marks (... or * * *, for example) used in writing or printing to indicate an omission, especially of letters or words.

:D
 

ShadowDJ

Senior member
Mar 6, 2002
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As bush would put it...
an illipserator
rolleye.gif
 

Yo Ma Ma

Lifer
Jan 21, 2000
11,635
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Hehe, yeah an ellipse, but does anyone know who the person is making fun of Larry King's column like "Did you ever notice how it's wet after a rain... dot dot dot" lol.