How To Use Dashes And Ellipses

Cms uses no spaces around em dashes.

How to use dashes and ellipses. Home screenwriting worldbuilding storytelling film tv analysis courses about. Dashes parentheses brackets ellipses. Dash and ellipsis 1. In this scriptwriting tutorial i ll show you how to use the dash and ellipsis correctly. A dash is a highlighter.

Let s move into show not tell now. Em dash ctrl alt minus far top right on the number pad. Dashes and ellipses how to use each 2. Em dash or em rule noun. Colons introduce a restatement explanation list series or some other amplification of the sentence s point to learn more about them read colons and semicolons.

Word will then auto correct those three individual periods into a single ellipsis character which looks very similar to three dots but maybe more or less spaced out depending on the font. Note how the dashes in the opening monologue from michael clayton written by tony gilroy indicate a character interrupting themselves and changing to another line of thought. Using commas before and after this interruption would be too confusing. Use a dash to draw attention to parenthetical information to prepare for changes in tone or to introduce or emphasize information. The following punctuation marks should be used sparingly as they are more specialized than those that appear above.

An ellipsis is created in word by typing three periods consecutively. An ellipsis takes the place of missing words. Ellipses and dashes are not interchangeable but the misuse of either and both is common. Em dashes can be used instead of parentheses commas colons and ellipses. Some screenwriters use dashes to convey the same thing as ellipses.

Ellipses and dashes often confuse beginning screenwriters. Usually has a space on both sides. For example here is a pause from the screenplay for chinatown written by robert towne.