The Secret Power of the Ellipsis: Why Those Three Dots Speak Louder Than Words
Fiction writers . . . don’t understand very much about what they do — not why it works when it’s good, not why it doesn’t when it’s bad.
Faltering or Interrupted Speech
The ellipsis may also be used to represent faltering or interrupted speech:
“Well, I . . . uh . . . don’t know,” she said.
Pauses
We can also use an ellipsis to indicate a pause or unfinished thought. At the end of a sentence, an ellipsis represents trailing off into silence.
Using an ellipsis to represent a pause can get a writer into trouble. We tend to pause a lot in speech. Pauses give us a moment to collect our thoughts or add emphasis to what we’re saying. But in writing, a page peppered with ellipses wreaks havoc on the eyes.
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