ellipses are not used to designate a pause in writing

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According to dictionary.com, that is. No definition herein says that it can be used to show a pause. It is only used to convey an omission of words or phrases in a statement. Is this correct? If so, then I've been using these damn things totally incorrectly for the past...oh, I don't know...forty years or so.

So what gives? Is dictionary.com wrong, or is this one of those things like the word "nother" that has just evolved and has never been officially added as a proper usage?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ellipses

1. Grammar.
a. the omission from a sentence or other construction of one or more words that would complete or clarify the construction, as the omission of who are, while I am, or while we are from I like to interview people sitting down.
b. the omission of one or more items from a construction in order to avoid repeating the identical or equivalent items that are in a preceding or following construction, as the omission of been to Paris from the second clause of I've been to Paris, but they haven't.
2. Printing. a mark or marks as ——, …, or * * *, to indicate an omission or suppression of letters or words.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 15 • Views: 1,185 • Replies: 41

I've learned everything I know about grammar and sentence structure from Emily Dickenson - and I'm too old to change now.

I think we have something like 43 current and former English teachers on this site, plus about 36 editors. I'm sure one of them will give us the correct answer shortly.

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This is terrible news for me as an ellipsophilic person, if I believed it.

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@kickycan,

Yes. You're wrong. Tough.

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@McTag,

Look it up!

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@kickycan,

Generally the ellispe is used to convey the omission of words, as you have indicated.

It has evolved into a pause in e-mails.

That is the long and short of it.

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@kickycan,

It is perfectly acceptable to use ellipses to indicate a rhetorical pause or silence
(aposiopesis).

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I'll use that any goddamned way i want to . . . you got that ? ! ? ! ?

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@kickycan,

Okay, I looked it up, and dictionary.com is just not very good, I guess. I went and bothered one of the proofreaders here at work about it, and as he showed me, in the Chicago Manual of Style, there are a bunch of uses other than the omission of words...including a pause.

I also learned something new. If you use three ellipses, it means you are still in the same sentence, but if you are starting a new sentence after the first statement, you should use FOUR. Interesting, huh?

Ex. A) I had way too much milk this morning . . . and it hurts.

Ex. B) I had way too much milk this morning . . . . Didn't you hear me farting my brains out all day?

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

I'll use that any goddamned way i want to . . . you got that ? ! ? ! ?

Ah, see, now that should have had four ellipses in it . . . . And the "Y" should have been capitalized.

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@kickycan,

I think you need to do spaces after 'em though, like:

Ex. A) I had way too much milk this morning... and it hurts.

Ex. B) I had way too much milk this morning.... Didn't you hear me farting my brains out all day?

(One space after the in-sentence ellipse, two spaces after the sentence-ender.)

Not sure.

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@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

I think you need to do spaces after 'em though, like:

Ex. A) I had way too much milk this morning... and it hurts.

Ex. B) I had way too much milk this morning.... Didn't you hear me farting my brains out all day?

(One space after the in-sentence ellipse, two spaces after the sentence-ender.)

Not sure.

You are correct. Technically they should all have spaces in between, as well. I fixed it.

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