Editing Question - Still Trying to Get Better

[sr71plt]

Okay. I'll work on that then. Good that I'm doing it right some of the time.

Dashes hmm? Dashes. Haven't used those much. Don't know if I'm comfortable with them dashes.

I'm not wild about the look of the em dashes in that position, either, and didn't use them for years. But after several manuscripts coming back from the publisher with that change made, I decided to learn to do it the way they wanted in the first place.

 

[Elianna]

I'm not wild about the look of the em dashes in that position, either, and didn't use them for years. But after several manuscripts coming back from the publisher with that change made, I decided to learn to do it the way they wanted in the first place.

If I go back I'm sure I'll find A BUNCH of them. Sigh. But I think I might want to send this out when I finish it and see what happens. Better to do it now...

 

[sr71plt]

If I go back I'm sure I'll find A BUNCH of them. Sigh. But I think I might want to send this out when I finish it and see what happens. Better to do it now...

Oh, I wouldn't go back on anything. It's nothing like a showstopper for either submission or reading.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Oh, I wouldn't go back on anything. It's nothing like a showstopper for either submission or reading.

SR, would like to be right. You mentioned an ellipse is where a partial conversation is heard. But what if a person stammers and the words stop?

Is an ellipse correct then?

 

[sr71plt]

SR, would like to be right. You mentioned an ellipse is where a partial conversation is heard. But what if a person stammers and the words stop?

Is an ellipse correct then?

Anytime the punctuation might be misinterpreted, that's probably a good time to throw in some narrative that makes your intent clear (as I suggested in Elianna's example).

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Okay. I'll work on that then. Good that I'm doing it right some of the time.

Dashes hmm? Dashes. Haven't used those much. Don't know if I'm comfortable with them dashes.

Yeah, me too. Three dots have not, to me. indicated "lost snippets of conversation" but rather pause. I doubt SR is wrong, rather he is right so many times, but this is Lit after all.

 

[CopyCarver]

Yeah, me too. Three dots have not, to me. indicated "lost snippets of conversation" but rather pause. I doubt SR is wrong, rather he is right so many times, but this is Lit after all.

Actually, neither of you is wrong. Ellipses can indicate omission of a word, phrase, or sentence from a quotation; it can also indicate a pause in speech, an interrupted or unfinished thought, or a trailing off into silence.

Or it can mean someone was slow getting a finger off the period key.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

... Ellipses can indicate omission of a word, phrase, or sentence from a quotation; it can also indicate a pause in speech, an interrupted or unfinished thought, or a trailing off into silence. ...

Sadly the Oxford English Dictionary gives only one definition:
An omission from a sentence of one or more words which would be needed to complete the sense or construction or which occur in the original; the omission of a sentence at the end of a paragraph; a set of dots etc. used to indicate such omission. Formerly, elision of a vowel.
Merriam-Webster has two, and it does include a pause:
1 a: the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete b: a sudden leap from one topic to another
2: marks or a mark (as …) indicating an omission (as of words) or a pause

So there you have the perfect example of "divided by a common language". If you are writing in English it isn't a pause, but if you are writing in American then it might be.

Or it can mean someone was slow getting a finger off the period key.

I find it odd that neithe OED nor M-W mentions this. I have submitted it to their editorial boards as a more modern definition, crediting CC as the source.

 

[emap]

I am so surprised at you guys forgetting one thing that makes it entirely clear that this is only part of the conversation because they stopped or you went too far away.

Example:
"I don't really think that is a goo..." The rest of the conversation is cut off by the elevator door closing.

Leaves no doubt that there was not a pause, there was not a mistake or anything else.

Sometimes I swear, you editors forget to see the nose on your face.

 

[sr71plt]

I am so surprised at you guys forgetting one thing that makes it entirely clear that this is only part of the conversation because they stopped or you went too far away.

Example:
"I don't really think that is a goo..." The rest of the conversation is cut off by the elevator door closing.

Leaves no doubt that there was not a pause, there was not a mistake or anything else.

Sometimes I swear, you editors forget to see the nose on your face.

I'm not sure what your point is, since your example isn't Elianna's example. Yours interrupts in the middle of a word; as far as I can see, the examples we've been discussing haven't been. According to the authority I cited (Chicago Manual of Style 6.90), by the way you haven't absorbed the point and have rendered this incorrectly. It should be "goo[em dash]".

Sometimes, I swear, you writers fail to see the specific point being discussed.

The authorities Snooper cited aren't specificaly about interrupted conversation (the Chicago Manual of Style, which covers the needs of fiction writers the best, differentiates), so they aren't relevant to whether an em dash is needed.

For the purposes of Lit. submissions, as Asylumseeker notes, no one is really going to care, though.