When should you use "..." and when should you use "- -"?

Question

Self-explanatory... when writing, when are each of those appropriate. They very well may have explained this in English class during one of those 13 years we went over the same junk. But, of course, only addressing it for a few minutes over those 13 years makes it hard to remember.

I do remember that you can use either to express a pause, but which one is used when?

Answer 1

Well ellipses aren't really used for the sake of a pause, but used in a certain way create a pause. Ellipses are frequently used for omissions and are also used to imply an alternative. Wikipedia gave an interesting example of the latter use:

Dracula: "I don't drink... wine."

He is, of course, implying that he drinks something other than wine.

Here's the link to the wiki article on ellipses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis

A dash is used more to offset a phrase in the middle of a sentence and that's how its pause is incorporated. Again, wikipedia has a pretty decent article summarizing the usage of the dash:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash_(punct...

In short, you're less likely to use ellipses for aesthetic pauses, but rather grammatical ones. To make a point and emphasize something with a pause you're more likely to use dashes. You could use commas, but that can be risky business (as far as grammar goes). :)

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

I do not think there is ant thing wrong with (pause).......how bout you!