[johngriffen]

A good question...

It's called an ELLIPSIS

This Wiki piece sums it up pretty good
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis

In summary
An ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Ancient Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, 'omission' or 'falling short') is a series of dots (typically three, such as "…") that usually indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning.[1]

I've seen other meanings for it as well in modern usage.

I use them improperly all the time

Oh my goodness @johngriffen you are AWESOME, I THANK YOU

Isweardagod I tried googling it up by typing just the symbol and came up with "Your search did not match any documents."

Then I tried it again but this time by adding words like "What does this [...] means" yada yada, and still came up with "Your search did not match any documents."

And this was quite bizarre cuz I don't get this a lot unless it's unreleased ebooks lollll

So ThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYou dear Good Sir!! (notethat,itypedthoseupwordbyword,nocopypastehappenedthere)

[johngriffen]

Yeah... I did a quick search as well to find a good link for you, and ran into the same problem
But knowing the name is always useful, and wiki is your friend

Wait, so I read the part about using square brackets for the three dots...

It says:

The Modern Language Association (MLA) used to indicate that an ellipsis must include spaces before and after each dot in all uses. If an ellipsis is meant to represent an omission, square brackets must surround the ellipsis to make it clear that there was no pause in the original quote: [ . . . ]. Currently, the MLA has removed the requirement of brackets in its style handbooks. However, some maintain that the use of brackets is still correct because it clears confusion.

By omission, would it be the same as me using [ . . . ] to omit a few words before the sentence that I intend to quote? And I need to use it to mean that there was no pause in the original quote and that I'm just omitting a few words before the sentence I intend to quote because they were unimportant? Is this what they mean?

For example, the original sentence that I would like to quote is this:

here’s our list of great short stories you can read for free right now.

so if I wanted to omit "here’s our list of" from that sentence, I should use [ . . . ], correct?

So it will be :

[ . . . ] great short stories you can read for free right now.

Is that correct? SighsEnglishIsntMyNativeLanguage

[johngriffen]

While that is technically correct and totally exceptable
As you noted...

Currently, the MLA has removed the requirement of brackets in its style handbooks. However, some maintain that the use of brackets is still correct because it clears confusion

Most people don't use the brackets anymore. I've even seen it without brackets in Newspapers, and they are one of the few left that still take the style handbooks seriously

[kathlyn]

Good morning everybody. Hi meiryoNoHikari welcome hey john thats nice to hear your daughters are visiting
How exciting looking for her wedding dress Does dad get the bill nice to see you Morning Matina brace yourself the heat is back love you Hello Pj I hope your doing Ok today very humid as expected after the rain here cuddle to the fuzzies always take care Evening bear and ice . Diva mwah

[matina]

good morning all
JG nice to see you here enjoy the weekend of screaming shoppaholic women around you your going to need the hard stuff this weekend keep them well soaked with alcohol to make your life barely livable lol oh and snow porn or iceberg porn for the foreseeable future for me and Kathy ( we are hibernating till winter comes) in a refrigerated shipping container here is out weather forecast for the next week oh and Mistress Ada this should warm your cockles too http://www.bom.gov.au/sa/forecasts/adelaide.shtml

[pjmpjm]

Good morning, everyone!

matina and Katy, yes, am feeling more or less OK today. It's a bit warmer up here than it was yesterday . . .

John, as a former English teacher, I have nothing but admiration for your grammatical research . . . and as others may have noticed, I love to misuse elipses too, and also to make unjustified Latin plurals!

meiryoNoHikari, English can be a tough language, and always changing, year by year.

Was in Blackheath yesterday . . .

[Stretton]

Hi Everyone!!

Oh dear, I must give you hives PJ since you're a former English teacher... I probably abuse the [...] the most!! Well, that and exclamation marks... it's just a VERY bad habit I've acquired...

Where's the cake???? *wink*

[pjmpjm]

Back from today's errands. Here's a photo I took yesterday of part of the famous Jenny Kee mural in Blackheath.

Not to worry, Stretton. I gave up on my 'grammar nazi' ways many years ago!

Hope everyone is well.

Just heard the good news that my grandson's ear operation has been entirely successful and that he's now off his medication and going back to the gym daily so that he can resume his martial arts training.

[matina]

thats awesome news PJ
kathy desert is long overdue and coffee
JG libations on icebergs please and snow porn too please ....PLEASE!!!!

[johngriffen]

Well Pj, I do have a minor in Literature (and one in religious studies) to go with my major in Journalism because I originally thought I was going to be a copywriter. So I'm VERY familiar with the style handbooks. I think I use the ellipsis wrong on purpose as a sign of protest from my earlier days.
And I simply love the mural... we have some great ones in Chicago
Pretty much all of Chicago's viaducts have some kind of mural on them

Many famous mural artists have come to Chicago to add their work to the city

Yes Stretton... it's no longer just a bad habit for me, it's more of a trademark of mine when I'm posting online.
I've had some people identify me on some websites when they see my posting style.

Katy, the fun has begun... My eldest just got in at 11:30 this evening, and we started in on the wine. They both just went upstairs to go to bed, because they have a full day of shopping ahead of them on Friday.

matina... While it was wine tonight, I'm sure the hard stuff will be coming out soon enough.
Feel free to join in


And per your request... and no need to not look Pj, it's all PG

[kathlyn]

Hey guys just finished dinner as requested Stretton , Matina time for coffee and desert



John thank you for the ice and snow I hope your girls have fun shopping it's my favorite pastime Good night Matina and Pj take care all

[pjmpjm]

Great mural, John. Here's one from Katoomba. Love the kangaroo in the centre.

Hi to matina and Katy. The latest news from my grandson has given me a real boost.

Thunderstorms up here all afternoon . . . hanging around for hours. Have been watching them on the radar but they don't seem to go away. Rishi hides under the stair when the storm gets loud!

[johngriffen]

Thanks Katy... time to jump start my blood sugar levels

That's a good one Pj...
No surface is safe in Chicago... one of the things I really love about this city