Elipses... ...no.

[Morgan Evanar]

Hey, everyone loves the elipse....
...right?

I feel that it really is too oft abused. Use periods. One of them. They work quite well. Elipse use should be kept to a minimum, if possible. Elipse abuse makes writing look weak because it distracts the reader's eyes.

Thank you,
A Grammar Nazi

[imported_Taja Loraan]

Also, anything other than the three-dot elipse sucks major playtpus bum. Yus.

[Vishan Korogoth]

bah!

:: covets his ... ::

;)

[Soolin Anjhurin]

..... what ......... you ........................... say ..........??? =^;^=

[Morgan Evanar]

B& for mod sassery.

[Soolin Anjhurin]

:: snurfles ::

[Vishan Korogoth]

:rolleyes

... ... .......@ .... .... ........@

[ReaperFett]

....I don't want to ask, but what's an elipse? Is it what I started with?

[Morgan Evanar]

Yes. Also, there are only three periods in an elipse.

The number of the counting shall be three. Five is right out.

[Soolin Anjhurin]

:lol

[The Grammar Nazi]

Yeah, you cretins.

Jeesh. This place is going to the dogs.

[Kale]

I primarily use them to indicate when a character's train of thought trails off. For instance,


Kale paused to catch his breath. The shadowy figure in the alley must have been the hooded man he'd seen at the Temple. But that would mean...

Oh, frell.

Or in paranormal/dreamy sequences, like,


Darkness... cold. Like being buried in a prison of ice. A light in the distance... stirring, moving... where was it coming from? There were voices. The light was closer now. Throbbing, stirring, pain--Life! He was alive!

Okay, I'll grant that wasn't very good, and I don't do those sequences very often. But I use them as a way of conveying confusion and incompleteness, and as a way to slow down the flow of the characters' thoughts, sort of the way I use the dash (--) to signify an abbrupt interruption. They're a way of coloring the text. Naturally, using too much of the same technique anywhere will grate on the reader's senses, but that's more an aesthetic concern than a grammatical one.

That said, I would admit they are often overused, and I went through a phase of gratuitous elipse use myself. It wasn't pretty.

[Charley]

...-.-...-..---..-...-..-.---.-..-...--.--.

am i rite?

Ellipses are fine for shifting an area of focus suddenly, like changing a train of thought or shifting action, etc. They aren't to be used to replace commas or semicolons however.

[Daiquiri Van-Derveld]

*will fight for her dots :shootin

[Morgan Evanar]

Originally posted by Charley
...-.-...-..---..-...-..-.---.-..-...--.--.

am i rite?

Ellipses are fine for shifting an area of focus suddenly, like changing a train of thought or shifting action, etc. They aren't to be used to replace commas or semicolons however. I don't remember morse anymore :/

[Moltar]

Originally posted by The Grammar Nazi
Yeah, you cretins.

Jeesh. This place is going to the dogs.


Ok who regestered this account?
:huh

[imported_Eve]

May we also distinguish between they're, their, and there, please?

They're = they are. "They're going out."
Their = Ownership to more than one person. "Their house is neat."
There = A place. "Go over there."

Elipses. Huh, I didn't know that word denoted the "..." before. Well, I learned something new.

[Khendon Sevon]

While we’re at it, how about then and than?

Then = time continues on or a series of events.

Example: He then moved towards the generator. Then, he ate some taffy.

Than = denotes comparison.

Example: I am larger than you are. It was heavier than she was. The programming was harder than he had expected.

Did I explain that properly?

[Charley]

Originally posted by Eve
May we also distinguish between they're, their, and there, please?

They're = they are. "They're going out."
Their = Ownership to more than one person. "Their house is neat."
There = A place. "Go over there."

<img src=http://www.swforums.net/photopost/data/504/1156youre.gif>

There's a macro for every ailment.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

This thread is marked "NSP" so all offending posts are being removed into a separate thread.