Tess, you ask some tough questions! I have left out any discussion regarding commas as I will deal with those in a thread all by themselves as entire books have been written on the subject!
Ellipsis (plural
ellipses) are three spaced periods (ellipsis points) that indicate when we deliberately omit part of a word or phrase from the original text of a quoted passage. In formal writing, the
Chicago Manual of Style states “the three-dot method indicates an omission within a quoted sentence and the four-dot method marks the omission of one or more sentences”. In more casual writing, it can also be used to indicate when we have a pause in speech, an unfinished thought or a trailing off into silence at the end of a sentence.
This isn’t to be confused with an
ellipse, which I discovered is actually a mathematical term, lol.
While both
hyphens and
dashes are punctuation marks, hyphens are commonly used to separate the parts of a compound word or to divide the syllables of a word, often when split up at the end of a line of text. Dashes are used to indicate a sudden break in thought or can be used in pairs to set off material like as in parentheses or to take place of such expressions such as
that is and
namely.
Further explanations:
From
Word Wise, regarding
dashes, written by Dan Santow:
Dash: Bookending the beginning and end of parenthetical information – sort of like commas but visually a stronger statement – dashes enclose information that could be deleted from the sentence and yet leave the essential meaning of the sentence intact. Dashes are also used at the end of sentences to emphasize a piece of information – to emphasize a point, as I’m doing here, or when what comes before in the sentence leads up to something, as in “I ate pie, a croissant, and a scone – and did I feel fat!”
From
Owl, otherwise known as the Online Writing Lab, regarding
hyphens:
Two words brought together as a compound may be written separately, written as one word, or connected by hyphens. For example, three modern dictionaries all have the same listings for the following compounds:
hair stylist
hairsplitter
hair-raiser
Another modern dictionary, however, lists hairstylist, not hair stylist. Compounding is obviously in a state of flux, and authorities do not always agree in all cases, but the uses of the hyphen offered here are generally agreed upon.
1.
Use a hyphen to join two or more words serving as a single adjective before a noun:
a one-way street
chocolate-covered peanuts
well-known author
However, when compound modifiers come after a noun, they are not hyphenated:
The peanuts were chocolate covered.
The author was well known.
2.
Use a hyphen with compound numbers:
forty-six
sixty-three
Our much-loved teacher was sixty-three years old.
3.
Use a hyphen to avoid confusion or an awkward combination of letters:
re-sign a petition (vs. resign from a job)
semi-independent (but semiconscious)
shell-like (but childlike)
4.
Use a hyphen with the prefixes ex- (meaning former), self-, all-; with the suffix -elect; between a prefix and a capitalized word; and with figures or letters:
ex-husband
self-assured
mid-September
all-inclusive
mayor-elect
anti-American
T-shirt
pre-Civil War
mid-1980s
5.
Use a hyphen to divide words at the end of a line if necessary, and make the break only between syllables:
pref-er-ence
sell-ing
in-di-vid-u-al-ist
For line breaks, divide already hyphenated words only at the hyphen:
mass-produced
self-conscious
For line breaks in words ending in -ing, if a single final consonant in the root word is doubled before the suffix, hyphenate between the consonants; otherwise, hyphenate at the suffix itself:
plan-ning
run-ning
driv-ing
call-ing
Never put the first or last letter of a word at the end or beginning of a line, and don't put two-letter suffixes at the beginning of a new line:
lovely (Do not separate to leave ly beginning a new line.)
eval-u-ate (Separate only on either side of the u; do not leave the initial e- at the end of a line.)
Hope this helps!
Proper use of dashes, ellipses, etc.?
Re: Proper use of dashes, ellipses, etc.?
(in terms of casual writing)
I never knew that there was a name for (... - Ellipsis) or that there were so many uses for the hyphen.
Linear Mode
