ellipsis

Thanks, chained bear, for the pointed lesson!
And oroboros, the idea of having to combine ellipses and emoticons . . .

I'm sure rolig isn't looking for an actual answer, but...

Three-dots are not preferable, despite Microsoft Word's willingness to convert all . . .s into ...s.

You put a space between the word and the ellipses that follow ONLY when it ends the sentence, which will be very clear because the period comes first, *then* the ellipses. Like so:

"How to mark ellipsis is such a headache for . . . me."

"How to mark ellipsis is such a headache for me. . . ."

"What do you do if the ellipsis ends in a question . . . ?" is right.

And no, you don't do something different . . . when the speaker . . . just . . . trails off.

:) Fun with dots!

Wow! The dilemma-horns of copy-editing are rife... ;oD

How to mark ellipsis is such a headache for copy-editors like me. Do you use the inelegant "three-dot" key (…) or the classier method of periods and unbreakable spaces (. . .). And do you put a space (breakable or unbreakable?) between the ellipsis and the preceding word . . . or. . . not? And what do you do if the ellipsis ends a question . . . ? And do you do something different when the ellipsis significes not the omission of part of a quotation but just trailing off, a pause, a break in the conversaton . . .