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Dashes, Semicolons, and Ellipses in Dialogue



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Sun Sep 02, 2007 4:36 am
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Snoink says...



Semicolons indicates a dramatic pause, which is later finished.

"This is not a good idea; it will lead us into danger."

"Hush!"

Ellipses (the dot-dot-dot thing) indicate a trailing off.

"I don't think that's a good idea..."

"Hush!"

Dashes indicate an abrupt cutting off.

"I don't think --"

"Hush!"

What's the difference between the dash and the ellipsis? With dashes, you cut off the sentence before it is complete. With an ellipsis, you indicate a cliffhanger sentence. It's still complete grammatically, but the idea isn't.

Ellipses and dashes are most effectively used in dialogue or first-person narration, although they can be used sparingly in other narration as well.
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.

"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach

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It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats—the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill —The Hill, as all the people for many miles round called it—and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another.
— JRR Tolkien