On Wed, 22 Nov 2000 16:31:41 -0800, LarryF wrote:
No spaces between the periods of an ellipsis. (Alexandria... and the
roof)
Excuse me? Are you saying an ellipsis does not have a space
between each dot?
If so what are you basing that on?
According to the source I use most often (The Gregg Reference
Manual, 7th Ed.) Allyn did it correctly the first time with
'plates . . . a blob'.
And although it wasn't quite right the second time with
'Alexandria' (two spaces in front of the first dot and no space
following the last dot) it was still essentially the correct way
to do it.
Fact is, an ellipsis doesn't have to be ' . . . ', though that
is the most common form. I've seen some authors use two hyphens
('--') for the same purpose as the three dots.
But if you are going to use three dots then they should be
separated by a space.
My real objection is the use of two ellipses at all. The
ellipsis is normally used to delineate an omission of words from
a sentence. But in this sentence, the fragment that begins "a
blob of mud" is actually a parenthetical phrase. It is a
separate descriptive phrase in the middle of an entirely
different statement.
Here is the actual sentence:
'Now it was beer and rancid stew in earthen ware plates and the
roof _leaked_!'
That looks like a complete sentence to me. Zhang is grumbling
about eating rancid stew and having a leaking roof.
Where's the omission?
The fragment adds a bit of action to an otherwise static scene.
I picture Zhang sitting there, grumbling about the beer, the
stew, reading his scroll when a blob of mud drops down from the
roof.
This is how I might recast the sentence.
'Now it was beer and rancid stew in earthenware plates and, a
blob of mud fell from the
roof and splattered a scroll he'd stolen from Alexandria, the
roof _leaked_!'
Note: I do agree with 'earthen' and 'ware' should be written
as one word 'earthenware'. If they were paper or plastic they'd
be 'paperware' or 'plasticware'.
Richard Person
Seattle
<Where the Sunshine, dry or wet, never ends>