Ellipses Should Be Used Sparingly…

I don’t often use ellipses in my writing, but I do notice it used a bit more frequently in other’s writing.  I have often suspected that ellipses are overused and I was glad the textbook confirmed my suspicions.  Taken from When Words Collide: “Ellipses should be used sparingly in journalistic writing because they can raise reader suspicion about the importance of the missing phrase and how it affects meaning.  Also, too many ellipses can bleed energy away from the content by forcing readers to follow the breaks” (Kessler and McDonald 120).

If used incorrectly or if over-used, ellipses create unnecessary pause, and can also cause confusion in the reader as well. For example, I found this sentence from a work email I received this past Friday:

“Lastly, some inspiring words to consider...especially if you've been feeling uninspired lately.”

I didn’t understand why ellipses were used here, and even paused for a moment and re-read the sentence a couple of times because I thought I had missed something.  I think a better way to have typed this would have been:

“Lastly, some inspiring words to consider, especially if you’ve been feeling uninspired lately.”

Using a second comma in the sentence helps it to flow more naturally while still holding on to the desired emphasis, “…words to consider, especially…”  The ellipses are not necessary to invite the reader to consider or ponder anything, the natural transition into the word “especially” and the subsequent phrase, will have that same affect.