Punctuation In Dialog

"Dots" are ellipses. Do a search in this forum and in Writing Novels. I believe there are already a couple of threads asking about them. An ellipsis indicates a pause in speech or a trailing off. The only choice is three periods if in the middle of a sentence or four if at the end.

IMHO, I agree with the sentiment that an author should limit the total number of exclamation points used in their entire career. If you use an exclamation point, use one at a time. Make the surrounding words indicate the emotion rather than relying on punctuation.

There are also several threads regarding how to indicate dialect like dropped h's. Look in this forum or Writing Novels. A lot of grammar questions were discussed there before they created the Grammar forum.

dots

Three dots only. This is an elipsis. But you're probably better off using dashes.

As for "Don't!!!, well, don't ever do this.

Exclamation marks are not your friends. Too many new writers use them way, way too often. Let good dialogue speak for itself, pun intended, and keep exclamation marks as rare as possible.

As for dropping letters, keep this to a minimum, as well. Such writing can be difficult to read, so use dropped letters the same way you use cayenne pepper. Throw in just enough for flavor, but not enough to fry your tongue.

Yes, three dots, but try to limit this. You really don't want your reader pausing, so if you need a beat, best to throw a dialogue tag in there, or a bit of action.

And dashes are not a substitute for ellipsis, James.

Never use !!! or ?! unless you're writing chick lit.

Best not to drop letters, but if you do, leave off the apostrophe. Dialogue is not real speech, it's a simulation of speech. Simulate dialect by phrasing and the occasional use of a word like gonna.

Julie Worth said:

Yes, three dots, but try to limit this. You really don't want your reader pausing, so if you need a beat, best to throw a dialogue tag in there, or a bit of action.

And dashes are not a substitute for ellipsis, James.

Never use !!! or ?! unless you're writing chick lit.

Best not to drop letters, but if you do, leave off the apostrophe. Dialogue is not real speech, it's a simulation of speech. Simulate dialect by phrasing and the occasional use of a word like gonna.

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I'm not suggesting using dashes as a substitute for elipses, I'm suggesting using both ellipses and dashes properly. Dashes are not a substitue for ellipses, but ellipses are also not a substitue for pauses. Despite what you see in some novels, the proper way to insert a pause is not with an elipsis, but with a dash.

Now, I have used ellipses as pauses for effect, but this is NOT grammatically correct. Ellipses have very specific uses, and the pause is not one of them.

Jamesaritchie said:

Despite what you see in some novels, the proper way to insert a pause is not with an elipsis, but with a dash.

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You're wrong, James, but if you have an authority, I'll be delighted to look at it.

That's a tad strong, Julie. Check your dictionary. Mine agrees with James.

Julie Worth said:

You're wrong, James, but if you have an authority, I'll be delighted to look at it.

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Julie Worth said:

You're wrong, James, but if you have an authority, I'll be delighted to look at it.

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FWIW, I agree with James.

And never do !!! Even one is too many in most cases.

Bufty said:

That's a tad strong, Julie. Check your dictionary. Mine agrees with James.

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My dictionary says for ellipsis: indicates halting speech or an unfinished sentence in dialogue

Fair enough, but I was envisaging a pause as a deliberate break in the flow.

Julie Worth said:

My dictionary says for ellipsis: indicates halting speech or an unfinished sentence in dialogue

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And according to the Chicago Manual of Style, an em-dash can be used to indicate an abrupt interruption of speech, which would not be a pause, would it?

An em-dash? No.

Julie Worth said:

And according to the Chicago Manual of Style, an em-dash can be used to indicate an abrupt interruption of speech, which would not be a pause, would it?

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Julie Worth said:

My dictionary says for ellipsis: indicates halting speech or an unfinished sentence in dialogue

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You say I'm wrong, but do not show any source yourself. You show me a single authoritative source that says "you can use an ellipsis as a pause in dialogue."

An unfinished sentence, yes, missing words, yes, pauses, no. A halt in speech is not the same thing as a pause. The purpose of an ellipsis is to indicate missing words, and to indicate a halt in speech, not to indicate a pause in speech.

First, I'd hardly call Chicago an authority, but even it does not say you should use an ellipses as a pause, unless I'm overlooking it in there somewhere?

Ellipses are sometimes used, nealry always ny fiction writers, to indicate a pause, but you show me any authority, anywhere, that says this is grammatically correct.

Pauses, abrupt ones, are indicated with em dashes. Ordinary, brief pauses of the kind I think you mean have no need of any special punctuation. They are indicted through comma use, through semi-colon use, through clauses, and through structure. Use of either em dashes or ellipses for this is artifical and nearly always unnecessary.

As I said, I have used ellipses to indicate pauses, but it is not technically correct to do so, and it should be used very sparingly. I think it works when done right, and when done very seldom, but only because fiction writers are often allowed to break the rules, rather than follow them, and new writers really need to stick to the rules until they learn how to break them effectively.

TheIT said:

There are also several threads regarding how to indicate dialect like dropped h's. Look in this forum or Writing Novels. A lot of grammar questions were discussed there before they created the Grammar forum.

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Actually, in the short time I've been here, I have seen very few topics dealing with grammar, here or anywhere else. Semantics, yes. Punctuation, lots. Grammar, virtually never. I have to assume that to most people, grammar means "the picky rules about writing that generate red ink from teachers."

This is not a criticism or a complaint, by the way, just a bemused observation. English grammar is really rather simple, which is probably one of the big reasons why there are so few posts about it. And the people making the mistakes, who need the help, are probably pretty oblivious to them.

Em-dashes are fine in those cases. You can also just use a comma:

"You, you can't be serious."

In the second sentence, I would use em-dashes. Better yet, use a dialogue tag:

"What the--I mean, how could--" he said, "why?"

Jamesaritchie said:

First, I'd hardly call Chicago an authority, but even it does not say you should use an ellipses as a pause, unless I'm overlooking it in there somewhere?
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Why don't you consider CMS an authority?