WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Grammar Minute: Does Your Story Really Need an Ellipsis?

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

The answer is probably no. Learn more on today's episode of Grammar Minute!

Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we're saving the English language 60 seconds at a time. I'm Lauren Smith here to talk about one of my biggest writing pet peeves, the ellipsis. These are those three little periods, often used correctly to denote omission inside a quote and used questionably in fiction to express someone's sentence trailing off into silence. Why is that latter usage questionable? It's often, although not always, a sign of sloppy writing. If you have to use this relatively unusual punctuation mark to convey the way someone is speaking, you probably haven't set the scene well enough for the reader to imagine it on their own,

and thus it can feel jarring. Elypsies, at least in fiction, are kind of like semicolons. Yes, you can use them, but you have to know exactly what you're doing. And you really shouldn't use them more than once or twice in your entire book-length manuscript. That's your Grammar Minute. Visit thegrammerminit.com for more tips and tricks. Thank you.