Answer: What is the correct punctuation for speech that "trails off"?

[theemdash]

with examples from Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Fullmetal Alchemist

velocitygrass asks: What is the correct punctuation for speech that "trails off"? What is the punctuation for interruption (either by yourself or someone else)?

Many people will tell you that trailing-off punctuation is largely a result of stylistic choices. Personally, I disagree. Punctuation tells you how to read a sentence. It's as scientific as writing ever gets. Each symbol for punctuation correlates to a different, specific meaning and the punctuations for pauses each determine a different length of pause. Punctuation that indicates trailing off or interruptions can be very different, as well, and if not properly punctuated could convey a meaning very different from the intended meaning.

velocitygrass was kind enough to provide some examples from her own fic, so all SGA examples are from her own work with corrected punctuation.

Ellipses
Ellipses (. . .) are used to indicate an omission or a pause. The word "ellipsis" comes from the ancient Greek roots "ek" (out) and "lip" (from the verb "leipo," "leave"), so it literally means "leaving something out" or "something left out."

Like all issues of grammar, stylebooks have some varying information on ellipses, though this is restricted to how the ellipsis should be printed.

The Chicago Manual of Style lists two commonly used methods of using (and printing) ellipses.

1. Use three dots for any omission
2. Omissions within a sentence should use three dots (...) while omissions between sentences should use a period and a space followed by three dots (. . .)

The Chicago Manual of Style also says that an ellipsis at the end of a sentence with no sentence following should be followed by a period.

The Modern Language Association (MLA) states that an ellipsis must include spaces before and after each dot (. . .) in all uses. It also agrees that an ellipsis ending a sentence (any sentence) must include a period followed by the ellipsis. To differentiate pauses from omissions, previous editions of the MLA handbook required that the ellipsis be set in brackets, though that style requirement has since been removed.

Personally, I prefer the MLA style, which is what I will be using in my examples. As always, it's okay to use a different style as long as you consistently follow that same style.

In speech, ellipses are typically going to indicate pauses and trailing off.

Pauses
Ellipses can be used to indicate a pause in speech. Perhaps the character is thinking in the middle of a sentence or is briefly distracted in his thoughts. Both are great uses for an ellipsis.

"I'm Daniel, it means, uh . . . 'God is my judge'."
("Upgrades")

"Rodney, you know that I'd never . . . do something like that to you."
(velocitygrass)

Ed scratched the back of his neck. "Al, there's something I've been . . . meaning to tell you."

Ellipses can also be used to indicate speech that trails off from one sentence, leading into a new sentence.

"Jack, it's not that easy. . . ." Daniel adjusts his glasses. "Forgetting about Sha're isn't easy."

"I didn't know that I. . . . I mean, since I left her, I've thought about it all the time."
(velocitygrass)

"I know that putting both hands together symbolizes a circle. . . . But what about the runes?"
(Chapter 23: Knocking on Heaven's Door)

Note that all of the examples that have sentences that end in an ellipsis have a period immediately following the last word. The terminating period should be placed as normal, with the ellipsis following.

Trailing Off
Ellipses can be use to indicate a thought that trails off and is never finished. This is similar to being used to indicate an omission (because grammatically and sensibly there is an end to the sentence even if it's not printed).

Daniel blinked against the harsh light. "I never really thought. . . ."

"Rodney, I just . . ." John began helplessly.
(velocitygrass)

"Haven't you ever just . . . ?"

Again, sentences that end in an ellipsis have a terminating period followed by the ellipsis. The final example shows a trailing question—which is punctuated differently. For a question that is trailing off, place the ellipsis with a space after the final word with the question mark following the ellipsis.

For dialogue that ends with a dialogue tag (like in the second example), there is no comma used before or after the ellipsis. The ellipsis is used as it is for pauses within a sentence. The dialogue tag is essentially the end of the sentence.

Misuse
Ellipses are often misused in dialogue. I choose to illustrate ellipsis use with an animanga fandom because manga do use ellipses to begin sentences or as dialogue (". . .") to indicate a silence or hesitation.

Ed: "Hardly the reaction of a loyal subordinate."
Roy: ". . . He's got a point."
(Chapter 24: Fullmetal Alchemist)

Hawkeye: "It would appear that either this document came through a time vortex, or someone made a grave error."
Roy: ". . ."
Driver: "Why don't you just meet them before you make your decision."
(Chapter 23: Knocking on Heaven's Door)

There is a certain amount of creative license that allows writers (especially in a visual format like manga and comics) to get away with both of these abuses, but really, the ellipsis isn't made for that. When writing for animanga fandoms, these uses for the ellipsis are okay (since they are supported by the style of canon), but I would recommend using them sparingly.

For further information on the ellipsis:
The Ellipsis
Ellipsis at Merriam-Webster

Em Dashes
Besides being my favorite piece of punctuation, an em dash (—) is used to indicate a break in thought or sentence structure, to introduce a phrase added for emphasis, definition, or explanation, or to separate two clauses.

An em dash is about the length of a lower case m, which is how its name was derived. On a Mac, you can type an em dash by pressing shift + option + -. On a PC, you can make an em dash by pressing ALT + 0151. If your computer is unable to create this useful piece of punctuation you can use two hyphens (--) as an acceptable way to indicate an em dash.

Em dashes do not have spaces before or after them. They are wedged firmly between words, fitting snugly against the terminating and initiating letters.

Within a Sentence
Within a sentence, an em dash can be used for clarification, to change direction, or for emphasis.

Clarification: "Exactly how many of these loops have you—we—been through?"
("Window of Opportunity")

Change Direction: "Rodney, how long do you think—Oh God, what's that?"
(velocitygrass)

Emphasis: "I'm not saying that—I'm not—but Colonel Mustang is still a bastard."

Often an em dash is misused as a semi-colon. Both pieces of punctuation can be used to connect clauses so it's fairly common to confuse them. The easiest way to decide which punctuation to use is to understand the intent of the clauses. Is the second clause redirecting the focus of the first clause? If yes, you should use an em dash. If no, (if the second clause is just additional information) you should use a semi-colon.

Interrupting Dialogue
Em dashes can also be used in dialogue to indicate an interruption. In these cases the em dash is acting as terminating punctuation, like a period that indicates an incomplete sentence.

Daniel: "You just gonna sit in here all day and, uh—"
Sam: "I'm not sulking."
Daniel: "Working. Gonna say 'working'."
("Zero Hour")

"Rodney, how long do you think—" John began for the fifth time that day.
"Oh God, what's that?" Rodney shouted.
(velocitygrass)

Havoc pats his pockets. "The price is a little stiff and I'm just short right—"
"Are you saying I'm so short that I can't even count that high?" Ed frothed.

When used as terminating punctuation, periods, question marks, and exclamation marks should not be used.

For dialogue that ends with a tag line ("Rodney, how long do you think—" John began for the fifth time that day.), a comma should not be used after the em dash. The em dash is treated like a question mark or an exclamation mark, which are both followed by the closing quote for the dialogue.

En Dashes
Because velocitygrass mentioned en dashes in her original question, I just want to point out that en dashes are typically used to indicate a span, such as 1–4. The dash in between the numbers 1 and 4 is an en dash (not a hyphen; a hyphen is shorter whereas an en dash is about the length of a lower case n). Hyphens are used only in hyphenated words such as forty-two or Wyndam-Pryce. En dashes are not used to punctuate for pauses or as terminating punctuation.

For further information on em dashs, en dashes, and hyphens:
Get It Write: En Dashes and Em Dashes

So, velocitygrass, when trailing off in a pause or omission, use an ellipsis, but be sure to punctuate correctly when terminating a sentence. When indicating a change in direction, either by the speaker or another speaker, use an em dash. Just be mindful of your intent with the dialogue and you should be able to make the right decisions in your pausing punctuation.

Comments

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Can honestly say this was something I'd never really thought about, so it's awesome to have this laid out for me. :D

[theemdash]

I think the grammar thing I get geekiest about is punctuation. Specifically em dashes, but punctuation in general gets me pretty excited. I mean, one misplaced comma and can you wind up with something entirely different (and often hilarious).

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[lonelybrit]

Yep, I was taught a slightly different style of ellipse, but even so it's good to see how you're meant to deal with things like question marks and periods. I've recently started being aware of the en dash, so thank you for the clear explanation of how they can be used. When reading it does make a world of difference to the pace of dialogue if the writer knows how to use both :)

[theemdash]

Question marks and periods with ellipses can be confusing because they don't look consistent, so knowing the correct way to punctuate for one doesn't mean you know the correct way to punctuate for both.

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! See, I've always thought the period was after the ellipses because they've just all looked like dots to me, and the question mark and exclamation point were at the end.

*must pay attention to spaces*

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

What I hate is when my word processor makes an emdash, but then it doesn't translate into html, so it looks like an endash and--that really has nothing to do with this, does it?

As often as I use (and abuse) emdashes and ellipses, I will definitely try and take this to heart. I know think sometimes I overuse the latter. I'd also not heard the spaces between ellipses before.

Very cool essay! (And P.S. How appropriate that you're the one writing it theemdash!)

[theemdash]

I use Word and changed my settings so that it wouldn't automatically replace two hyphens with an em dash. (Of course I also fixed it to give me straight quotes rather than smart quotes because on my machine, everything is for the good of the internet.)

I prefer the spaces between the dots in an ellipsis in part because I'm an editor and that's the style of my publishing house, but also because it illustrates the pause more completely. With the dots smashed together, you can almost glance right over them.

"I'm Daniel, it means, uh... 'God is my judge'."

"I'm Daniel, it means, uh . . . 'God is my judge'."

I especially prefer it online because sometimes online fonts will have tight spacing between the letters.

(And P.S. How appropriate that you're the one writing it theemdash!)

Are you kidding? As soon as I saw this question come up, I grabbed it. I love em dashes!

[starwatcher]

.
I'm 2 1/2 years late, but it seems pertinent. You like space within the ellipsis because it spreads it out and is more easily noticed.

But I prefer the ellipsis with no internal space because, if there are spaces, the ellipsis will sometimes begin at the right side of the page, and continue on the next line at the left side of the page. And you can't control it; it depends entirely on the reader's browser and window-size.

I've seen ellipses spaced and not spaced; are no-space ellipses at least permissible? Otherwise, I'll be breaking rules all over the place. This doesn't mean I'll change, but at least I'll know what to advise people when I beta their stories.
.

[velocitygrass.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

It's good to know that I can keep the ellipses (although I'll stick with the non-spaced ones) and I'll make sure to add an additional period when they end the sentence in the future.

When trying to research this on my own, I came across the em dash, but it looked scarily large to me and now I just checked and it seems Times New Roman as well as Arial really have an em dash that's too long (Arial 25% and Times New Roman 40%!). *curses Windows standard fonts*

In Verdana they look fine however, even if I'll have to get used to the lack of space afterwards.

Again, thank you for clearing this up for me!

[theemdash]

I'm glad this helped!

For the non-spaced ellipsis, you should run them up against the terminating letter of the word, but put a space after the ellipsis. Like... this. (Typing that was quite difficult for me, I'll have you know). I posted my reasoning for the spaced ellipsis above. I admit, in my heart of hearts, I'm campaigning for usage of the spaced ellipsis online to aid reading. ;)

The "m" length is an approximation, but basically as long as your em dash is longer than an en dash, it's understandable.
— vs. – (em dash vs. en dash)

[velocitygrass.livejournal.com]

I read your reasoning and maybe the explanation for me is that I write in a fixed-width text editor where . . . is just a loooot of space. It just hurts my eyes ;)

Although now I have to ask: If I don't use spaces, is there no space at all if the sentence trails off and a new one begins?

"I didn't know that I.... I mean, since I left her, I've thought about it all the time."

or

"I didn't know that I... . I mean, since I left her, I've thought about it all the time."

Okay, the second one looks strange to me. I think generally a space before a period looks strange to me.

The "m" length is an approximation, but basically as long as your em dash is longer than an en dash, it's understandable.
Yes in terms of differentiation it doesn't matter to be precisely of that length. But I think it does make a difference visually. I'm somewhat picky in terms of aesthetics (at least in some cases). And the humongous — in Times New Roman makes me uncomfortable. Look at this comparison between Georgia and Times New Roman on your first example:



Georgia looks quite nice whereas for Times New Roman the em dash is possibly longer than the "we" and it also bleeds into the e and touches u and b. Thank God, I don't see this when I write, so I'll just use -- in my text editor and I have already modified my little macro that replaces * with HTML for italics to now replace "--" with "—", so I should be all set now :)

[theemdash]

If you don't use spaces, it should look like this:

"I didn't know that I.... I mean, since I left her, I've thought about it all the time."

If we weren't on the internet, a printer would probably use a slight space between the dots in the ellipsis (making it look sort of like this: "I didn't know that I. ... I mean, since I left her, I've thought about it all the time."), but for internet purposes, absolutely no spaces is all right.

What's funny is that I think the em dash in Georgia looks too short. Heh. I greatly prefer the look of it in Times New Roman. (Though I possible see it more often in Times New Roman which is what that looks fine to me.)

[velocitygrass.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you!

Maybe it's really just a matter of getting used to it. :)

[starwatcher]

.
Like... this.

Okay, I hadn't got this far. This is the way I do my ellipses, which seems natural. IE, a punctuation unit is followed by a space, and the ellipsis is a single unit, so voilà!

At least I'm consistent in my own writing, but I need to be sure that, if one of my authors has a question, I can give her both options and let her choose what's most comfortable for her.
.

[seanchaidh.livejournal.com]

One issue I find rather frustrating is how the em dash doesn't translate well to HTML. (And now you have me wanting to go back to my stories after those ellipses.:))

[theemdash]

I agree. I wish em dashes were more easily printable in HTML.

(I cannot tell you how many times I've learned something new, realized I made mistakes in about a hundred places, and gone to fix as many as possible. If you attempt it, I wish you the best of luck.)

[lmichelle599.livejournal.com]

Four periods just doesn't look right for a thought that trails off. I know I've violated that rule. I'm going to go and look at the current fic I'm working on to check for any problems so far.

[theemdash]

But it is right! ;)

Have fun checking. *waves*

[legoline.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was interesting. I hope I can remember it all :-)

[theemdash]

This is stuff that comes to you through practice and experience. You can have all the knowledge before you, but if you don't use you, you don't learn it.

[legoline.livejournal.com]

True. I'm just happy enough that my beta pointed out to me when to use an em dash and when to use an ellipse (aka "cut off thought vs. trailing off". That's how she explained it to me and to just wrap my mind around the concept, it really helped.) I never knew there was a difference between "-" and "--" though - very cool.

[legoline.livejournal.com]

And I just realised I used an en dash wrongly there at the end. Crap! :-p

[theemdash]

If it makes you feel better, it gave me a giggle. ;)

[legoline.livejournal.com]

Makes me feel a little better :-)

[akasha-lilian.livejournal.com]

Lovely essay, thanks! =)

[rigel-7.livejournal.com]

Normally, I would regard the spacing in your ellipses with a feeling of vague to mild horror. But I do see your point about readability online.

Often the spacing is far too compressed in the default 10-12pt sizes - especially if the stylesheet calls for a serif font without making any adjustments to the letter-spacing attribute (kerning).

Off topic, but it would almost be worth doing a mini essay on readability for LJ, yes?

[theemdash]

Kerning! How you mock us all!

Yes, the kerning is exactly why I space my ellipses. Also, I think it's easier readability for when you end a sentence in an ellipsis. (And I've been frickin' trained to do it, now.)

Readability for LJ I think would have to start with "don't use pink font on a black background" and end with "serifs are your friends." ;) If you're interested in writing it, we've got openings in the Features. *pokes*

[rigel-7.livejournal.com]

*snabs it*

I have to say that CSS and all those lovely leetle tricks you can do with it to make your page just that bit more presentable is a slight obsession of mine.

*adds "you do realise that comic sans is just a plain ugly font, and yeah . . . that gothic font - completely fugly as well as unreadable." to list*

[theemdash]

Comic sans is fine for comic book paneling, but really shouldn't be used otherwise.

I find most script fonts fairly offensive, but that's more because I find the rigid similarity in the curls of a script to lack anything resembling a soul. If I'm reading something in script, I enjoy seeing the particular ticks of the writer in the imperfections. Script fonts on a computer always seem cold, devoid of human interaction. (And yet I don't have this problem with other fonts, just script! Heh.)

[tigerlilly2063.livejournal.com]

Huh. There's always something new to learn. :o I've always used the ellipses kinda intuitively. Good to know there are rules! *hehe*
And the En Dash is completely new to me. *blinks*

Being a second-language speaker makes this (and the complete community) even more valuable to me.
Thanks for your efforts. :)

[theemdash]

There are rules, but if you're using it intuitively, that's actually a good sign! The best way to learn how to do something is to do it.

I'm glad you're finding it valuable as a second-language speaker. I had really hoped to help non-native English-speaking fans.

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

I do find all this really helpful as I really thought I was reasonable at grammar, but I still have a lot of issues, evidently! Of course, it's very hard to find out you've been wrong all these years too! Hopefully, I'll do better from now on (although I do wonder if there is any difference between American and English use. Not sure if all your experts are American, but it would be interesting to know!).

[theemdash]

Oops, I forgot I hadn't replied to this!

We do have a few Australian Fandom Grammarians, but no English ones. We try to research differences in usage, though.

As far as I know, the ellipsis and em dash are used basically the same. Hmm . . . I need to check this. Okay, a quick search yielded this result:

American typography uses the em dash without spaces where British typography uses an en dash with spaces on either side.
McElroy Translation Company

This same source also sites the difference in dialogue that I avoided, namely placement of the punctuation outside the quotation marks.

Perhaps I'll write an addendum for this post including more of the English-usage as contrast to American-usage.

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm now feeling greatly relieved to know I haven't necessarily been misusing the en dash all these years, as I was sure that was the way I was taught - the English way, I mean! Although now I am doing a lot of writing with Americans, I am adjusting somewhat, but it does feel odd to change when you thought you had it right! I will continue to follow your information as it is all of excellent help, but I am pleased to know you do look into the differences in usage. I'm a Kiwi, and we most often follow the English spellings and - clearly - usage. The Australians tend more towards the American from what I've seen, although in some ways can be quite English too. Thanks again!

[sutlers.livejournal.com]

Hi, sorry for commenting on an old post, but I just found this wonderful community.

I admit, in my writing, I have an aversion to ellipses. I write a lot of characters who have a tendency to cut themselves off, rather than what I would traditionally think of as "trailing off." The way I see it, it's like a change in direction, except without audible dialogue. They're not hesitating, they're clamming up. Is this correct, and if not, what should I use?

(e.g. "I don't think you should--" Kanda starts. Then he snaps his mouth shut with an audible click. )

I hope that explanation made sense.

[jem0000000.livejournal.com]

Ah, I don't know if they've answered you yet?

But if not, their requests page is here: http://community.livejournal.com/fandom_grammar/698.html . And I believe there was talk about another feature on dashes.

I would write your sentence the way you did in your example, for the same reasons you gave. However, I'm not a grammar expert.

[theemdash]

Thanks for commenting to that question. I totally missed/forgot about that comment!

My answer is here.

[theemdash]

I suck at replying to comments? Just got the one from jem0000000 as a reply to this comment.

Yes, to show a "clam up," I would punctuate with the em dash. However in the example you just gave, I wouldn't use it. Because you're in the middle of a sentence (you have to think of dialogue and a tag as being a sentence), it's not an appropriate place for an em dash (in my opinion; I haven't researched for this specific example). Here are two options I know are correct:

"I don't think you should," Kanda starts. (Your tag indicates that it's a start-stop situation.)

"I don't think you should--" Kanda snaps his mouth shut with an audible click. (Here we're stylistically using the em dash as terminal punctuation and then moving on to the next thought.)

Sorry for the late answer!

[nighean-isis.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the refresher course in En and Em dashes. It has been some time since those college courses....

And for letting me know that I've been a total failure in my use of ellipsis punctuation. ;-)

Well. A day in which one learns something new is a day that is not wasted. I just learned something new.

Thank you.

[theemdash]

I'm more than happy to offer refreshers on the em dash! ;)

Glad this was informative!