Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, here to talk about one of my biggest writing pet peeves: the ellipsis. These are the three little periods, often used correctly to denote omission inside a quote, and questionably in fiction to express someone’s sentence trailing off into silence.

Why is the latter usage “questionable?” It’s often—though not always—a sign of sloppy writing. If you have to use this relatively unusual punctuation mark to convey the way someone is speaking, you probably haven’t set the scene well enough for the reader to imagine it on their own. Thus, it can feel jarring.

Ellipses, at least in fiction, are like semicolons. Yes, you can use them, but you have to know exactly what you’re doing. And you really shouldn’t use them more than once or twice in your entire manuscript.

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