ellipsis

[Malcolm Patterson]

Why does MS Word replace points of ellipsis with a single character? The dots
end up too close together. GPO style makes it clear that en spaces are
required before, between, and after three points of ellipsis. Chicago's
examples show the same.

Dots close together with a full space on either side look very strange.

There are European languages (not British English) that close up the dots,
but I can find no authority who suggests that it is appropriate for US or
British English.

Can a thin space be inserted before and after the ellipses? If so, how?

 

[Tony Jollans]

I cannot comment on the 'official' style, but you can do it yourself. Type
three dots and, after it has been changed to an ellipsis, press Ctrl+Z to
iundo the AutoCorrect. Now manually add two en-spaces between the dots and
select the five characters you now have; go to Tools > AutoCorrect Options
and you will find those characters pre-entered under "With". Enter ... under
"Replace" and click on Add, then OK out and next time you type three dots it
should be automatically corrected to your preferred style.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I'm surprised that GPO style prescribes an en space between the dots; even
the space of the line can be excessive.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Character]

Why does MS Word replace points of ellipsis with a single character? The dots
end up too close together. GPO style makes it clear that en spaces are
required before, between, and after three points of ellipsis. Chicago's
examples show the same.

Dots close together with a full space on either side look very strange.

There are European languages (not British English) that close up the dots,
but I can find no authority who suggests that it is appropriate for US or
British English.

Can a thin space be inserted before and after the ellipses? If so, how?

Long quote from Robert Bringhusts' "The Elements of Typographic Style":
-------------------------
Most digital fonts now include a prefabricated ellipsis (a row of
three baseline dots). Many typographers nevertheless prefer to make
their own. Some prefer to set the three dots flush … with a normal
word space before and after. Others prefer ... to add thin spaces
between the dots. Thick spaces (M/3) are prescribed by the 'Chicago
Manual of Style', but these are another Victorian eccentricity. In
most contexts, the Chicago ellipsis is much too wide.

Flush-set ellipses work well with some fonts and faces but not with
all. At small text sizes – in 8 pt footnotes, for example – it is
generally better to add space (as much as M/5) between the dots.
…
In English (but usually not in French) when the ellipsis occurs at the
nd of a sentence, a fourth dot, the period, is added and the space at
the beginning of the ellipsis disappears…. When the ellipsis combines
with a comma, exclamation mark or question mark, the same typographic
principal applies. Otherwise a word space is required for and aft.
-------------------------------

He also comments that more space looks better when used with light
fonts such as Baskerville and less space when in the context of darker
fonts like Trajanus.

- Character

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

No mention of en spaces anywhere in that, I notice.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Character]

No mention of en spaces anywhere in that, I notice.

Right. The en space is classically defined as half an em space, M/2.
There's very little consistency among - or often within - computer
fonts regarding the sizes, relative or otherwise, of em and en spaces
and dashes .

In a number of places, for instance between two numbers to indicate a
range, Bringhurst asserts that the hyphen is too short and the en-dash
too long - he advocates an M/3 dash surrounded by two 'thin spaces'.
A 'thin space' is variously defined as a third of a word space, half
of a word space, and others.

All of this just leads me to believe that if you're looking for
perfection, the best way is to manually position everything until it
LOOKS right!

- Character