Punctuation can seem small and insignificant, but its misuse can entirely change the meaning of a sentence or paragraph. Just as the smallest seed can produce the largest plant or the tiniest germ can cause destruction and death, the punctuation mark can make the difference between good and bad writing. With the lowly commas, periods, and apostrophes, developed over years of human composition, the words and sentences people use can become clear. The current usage of punctuation such as the period and the ellipsis is still a fairly new phenomenon, growing out of the invention of printing and still continuing to change.
The Development of Punctuation with the Printing Press
Before the development of the printing press in Europe, punctuation usage was somewhat haphazard, as the Applet Magic website states. The first printed punctuation in English came with William Caxton in 1474, when he used the slash (/) to indicate word groups, the colon (:) to indicate long pauses, and the period (.) to indicate brief pauses or the ends of sentences. William Tyndale and later writers replaced these somewhat confusing punctuation marks with others, using a comma instead of the slash and introducing the semicolon (;). Gradually, punctuation began to take on a modern appearance, although commas, semicolons and colons could be used interchangeably.
Literacy among the common people was quite limited until well after the invention of the printing press, and early punctuation marks were used to ease the process of reading aloud to others. For example, commas and periods came to indicate differing lengths of the pauses between phrases or sentences, and further innovations refined the meanings of punctuation marks. However, it was not until literacy became more widespread that punctuation began to give indicators for silent as well as oral reading, with punctuation marks such as the ellipsis developing.
Uses of the Ellipsis in English Writing
The ellipsis is perhaps the most versatile of the punctuation marks. Exclamation marks and periods have their own specific uses, but the ellipsis can be used in a variety of contexts. The ellipsis, a series of three dots (…) indicates the omission of letters from a word or words from a sentence, as the National Punctuation Day website indicates. It is popular in news reports, in which long sections of reported speech can be shortened with the punctuation, and in academic documents, in which writers can effectively summarize long quotations by omitting irrelevant sections. However, many other writers use this punctuation mark to indicate a pause or trailing off of a character’s speech.
Formatting the Ellipsis
The three dots of the ellipsis can be used in both words and sentences. In words, the ellipsis can indicate deleted or unknown letters, as in a name with uncertain spelling. In the middle of a sentence, the ellipsis is preceded and followed by a space and is used in place of irrelevant or otherwise extraneous words. At the end of a sentence, the ellipsis is followed by a period and can indicate that the sentence has deliberately been left ambiguous or the speaker has been interrupted. With all of these uses, the ellipsis is valuable in both academic and popular writing.
Punctuation has the power to influence how people read, and the ellipsis is especially versatile. With so many different uses, the ellipsis is especially important in all kinds of writing.
Further information on the ellipsis and other punctuation is available at Punctuation.com or on various university websites. Some useful grammar books are Understanding and Using English Grammar by Betty Azar Schrampfer and Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. The Chicago Manual of Style, The Canadian Style, and other style guides are also useful for academic writing.
Susan Huebert - My name is Susan Huebert, and I'm a writer and editor from Winnipeg, Manitoba. I've always enjoyed words, and I graduated with a Bachelor ...
