> If an ellipsis follows the end of a sentence are there 3 dots or 4? > > Cheryl Singhals According to the Chicago Manual of Style online: "Q. An ellipsis is defined by three dots. Is there a particular reason that it is limited to three dots? I am looking to understand what the ellipsis signifies! A. How many dots would you like? You can have as many as four if you put an ellipsis after a period. I don't know of any significance behind the choice of three. Perhaps the number gradually came to be popular and then was standardized in style sheets and grammar for the sake of consistency, as well as to prevent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . silliness." For more answers to your questions: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq/cmosfaq.html Kathy kql <[email protected]>

Ellipses: It has been a while since I needed this information, so I went to "google" to refresh my memory. I do not recall such disagreement on the proper spacing of the elliptical dots, but that is probably because I just followed the style manual selected by my university. In my opinion, a document in which ellipses already exist should be transcribed exactly as originally written, and that fact should noted. Trying to rewrite historical documents to conform to modern usage may result in changing the meaning. However, unless an original paper is written for a specific institution or is some kind of legal document, it looks like you can choose the form you like best! One source says to treat the ellipsis as a three letter word, constructed with two full spaces and three dots ... like this. Another states that there should be a space between the dots . . . like this, and when the ellipsis follows a complete sentence, the spacing should still be observed . . . . like this. A third recommended that when the ellipsis follows a sentence, the punctuation should follow immediately after the sentence, then a space, then the three eliptical dots. ... like this, however the rules for legal usage mandate a space, then three spaced dots, then the punctuation . . . ! The Chicago Manual of Style states: "There are two commonly used methods of using ellipses: one uses three dots for any omission, the second makes a distinction between omissions within a sentence (using three dots: ...) and omissions between sentences (using a period and a space followed by three NONBREAKING-SPACED dots. . . . [their emphasis]. There is no such thing as a "four-dot ellipsis". A period followed by an ellipsis may look like four dots, but they are two separate entities." Although some write ellipses without spaces, some institutions, such as the Oxford University Press, place one space in front of three non-spaced dots, thus "I have seen something ..." instead of "I have seen something..." The exception here is when a word has been cut off in the middle; that is, when the ellipsis stands for a part of one word "'He said he realized he was wro...' I stopped mid-word, awestruck." In legal writing in the U.S., Rule 5.3 in the Bluebook citation guide requires a space before the first dot and between the two subsequent dots. If an ellipsis ends the sentence, then there are three dots, each separated by a space, followed by the final punctuation. [The direct opposite of the Chicago Manual of Style where the punctuation precedes the elliptical dots.] About the use of more than three elliptical marks: Use a line of elipses to indicate the omission of one or more lines in a quotation of three or more lines of verse. "Forgive my grief for one removed. Thy creature, whom I found so fair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ space before first period added by Mod to avoid technical problems ] Forgive these wild and wandering cries, Confusions of a wasted youth." Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice . . . ! "Virginia Beck" <[email protected]>