Why I Hate the Ellipsis in Professional Writing

One of the more enjoyable novels that I have read in the past few years is A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. The story of a Count placed under house arrest in Moscow’s Hotel Metropol after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 has a scene where he is frustrated with an antagonist who keeps finishing questions with ellipses. The passage states:

Ever since the Bishop had been promoted, he had taken to adding an ellipsis at the end of every question. But what was one to infer from it . . .? That this particular punctuation mark should be fended off . . . ? That an interrogative sentence should never end . . . ? That even though he is asking a question, he has no need of an answer because he has already formed an opinion . . . ?

The ambiguity spelled out in those 82 words and four ellipses sums up my hatred for the ellipsis when I see it in professional writing.

According to Merriam-Webster, an ellipsis is “marks or a mark (such as … ) indicating an omission (as of words) or a pause.” For example, print newspapers have historically deployed the ellipsis to condense quotes, and mathematicians will use them to show a pattern of whole numbers, such as “1,2,3, …, 100.”

What puzzles me is how many people use ellipses in professional writing in the Electronic Age, even though they have infinite space. I am not talking about cheeky texts or witty op-eds. I am talking about things like emails between colleagues where the ellipsis is used to end a sentence and pause a thought.

In an era where more people say they feel like they are working in silos, why anyone would want to pause a thought when communicating with a coworker is a mystery. At best, using an ellipsis just creates confusion. At worst, it comes across as very passive-aggressive.

Last week, I wrote about how Thomas Jefferson and John Adams worked together on the Declaration of Independence. The two eventually left their political careers hating each other, but repaired their relationship through letters in what is arguably the most famous series of correspondence in American history. I have not read all of the letters, but the ones I have looked at did not contain a single ellipsis.

If you have read this far, it is probably clear that I have been on the end of some annoying emails with ellipses. I will own that I have a conscious bias towards them. However, I can also say that if you use an ellipsis in most professional writing, it is not going to solve problems. It is just going to do something else…

For you, I will finish that thought. Using that ellipsis will only potentially create more difficulties for you.

💡 Want more tips on writing in different settings? Check out Three Key Components to Writing While Traveling for practical advice when deadlines follow you on the road.

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