An ellipsis is three dots right next to each other. It has a few uses, but seems to be screwed up quite often.

First off, when it's used when there is:

1. An intentional pause in a sentence.

I just... I don't understand...

Simple.

2. When words or sentences are omitted from a quote.

Mississippians don't know, and refuse to learn, how to surrender... If Commodore Farragut... can teach him, let [him] come and try.

~Quote from Colonel James L. Autry, military commander of Vicksburg (from the Siege of Vicksburg in the Civil War. Look it up if you don't know; it's really cool.)

This is also simple, but used much less.

Now, you use it to show cut-out parts of quotes and intentional pauses in quotes.

Now, how many periods do we use?

ALWAYS USE THREE IF YOU'RE SHOWING A PAUSE.

I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. USE. THREE.

One is just a period. (Obviously.)

One is a period.

Two has it so that people can't tell if it's a mistake with accidentally adding one period to the end of what's just supposed to just be one, or accidentally forgetting one in an ellipse.

That's really stupid..

(Is it a regular period or an ellipse?)

Four is apparently used when cutting out sentences in quotes, but any other use is WRONG.

You suck....

(Not very noticeable, but still dumb.)

FIVE OR MORE MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT.

That's so edgy.........................................................................................

(If you do this, please give me your address so I can SLAP YOUR FACE.)

IN CONCLUSION FOR THIS UNNECESSARILY LONG SUB-LECTURE:

USE ELLIPSES IN QUOTES OR WHEN SHOWING AN INTENTIONAL PAUSE. ONLY USE THREE WHEN SHOWING THE PAUSE.

There you go, sorry for wasting your time on something you already probably know. Also, this is too long.

...
Well, all right then.

Every little bit helps.

I had been discussing ellipses with some folks over in the Writer's Group and this was linked there: link.

Look at point 12. According to this, you use three dots (...) when someone pauses but continues ("Well... I don't know.") and four when it ends the sentence, the last one being your usual period ("I just don't know....")

I don't know how correct any of this is, but there's some food for thought.

Capslock for the Caps god. Also; this was needed information.

875399 What I can say is that while sending a story to EQD, they did not like the four ellipsis deal. It's safe just to keep to three.

875179 What I also hate is when people use more than one ending mark in a sentence. "Can anyone help me??" or "Can anyone help me?!?!?!"

At first, I thought this was going to discourage the use of ellipses (If you read my works, you know that I use them all the time), but now I see that it was just the dos and don'ts, so it's okay.

And, agreeably, the next time I see something like,

I think thats dumb lol...........

I will hit the writer with a cinderblock.

'Twas a nice little speech, an important one since everyone uses these.

There are correct uses for them, but I see them abused far more than I see them used. Great topic!

876075 Actually, ending a statement with "!?" or "?!" is still correct if you need to express that the character is either questioning and yelling, or questioning and commanding at the same time, but as soon as they use more than one question mark or exclamation point, it's wrong.

The important thing is to use "!?" and "?!" sparingly.

880017 Yes, that is what I meant.

875183 Dude... sick avatar!