The dot, dot, dot

You’ve used them. Those three little dots. I suspect that you are using them to indicate that you are thinking about something, that you are searching for just the right word, that there is more to come in this stream of consciousness. In all cases, you would be using those three little dots incorrectly.

Electronic communications has made us all a little lazy when it comes to grammar. Lowercaseness prevails, acronyms that none of us understand are everywhere and sentence structure has completely gone out the window. If you are at all interested in using those three little dots correctly, consider these pointers next time you are tapping out a note on your Blackberry.

• Three little dots are called an ellipsis.
• Ellipsis is singular; ellipses is plural.
• An ellipsis is used to indicate the omission of material from an original quote; hence, if you are writing a note to Benny and you type “See you in the morning . . . maybe we can find a good game of Dungeons and Dragons . . . I have a new cloak to wear.” you would be using these ellipses completely inappropriately. Why? Because no original material existed before you wrote this note to Benny.
• Ellipses are most often used in journalism to abbreviate a long quote and get to the heart of the matter.
• Ellipses are also used to reference other works. You might condense a line from Romeo and Juliet if you were writing an essay on star-crossed lovers. You might also use ellipses in legal documents when you are quoting other sources.
• To create an ellipsis, used three spaced periods. Add spaces before and after the ellipsis.
• If you are using an ellipsis at the end of a sentence, add a fourth period.