24

I was talking to a friend of mine over Skype, and I typed this:

Ok... Now I want more pork pie.

I'd like to know, should there be a capital letter after the ellipsis "…"? Should it be written the way I typed it:

Ok... Now I want more pork pie.

Or should it be a lowercase "n":

Ok... now I want more pork pie.

Do ellipses break a sentence so that a new one must be started after them (hence the capital "N"), or do they behave similarly to commas and dashes in that they serve as a "pause", with a lowercase "n"?

Improve this question
1

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
16

Most writers would use a comma in OP's example, not an ellipsis. So the issue wouldn't arise there anyway. Probably the writer intended "Okay...blah blah" to make the reader "internally vocalise" it as "Okaaaaaay, blah blah".

In general, it really depends on whether you consider the ellipsis represents an "empty" pause at the end of a preceding sentence. If so, what follows is a new sentence, and it starts with a capital letter.

If you think the ellipsis represents a delay within an as-yet-incomplete sentence, but you've decided you don't want indicate that delay using some other punctuation (comma, semicolon, etc.), then just continue the sentence without a capital.

Effectively, it's partly the exact context, and partly stylistic preference. I'd say if in doubt, consider using a comma instead of an ellipsis. If that doesn't feel right, you should probably capitalise.

Improve this answer
19

The first word after an ellipsis is capitalized if it begins a new grammatical sentence.¹

¹Chicago Manual of Style, 13.51.

Improve this answer
6
  • 2
    In the example, "now" does not definitely begin a new sentence, so your rule does not definitely apply. For example the ellipse in the example may represent an intentional silence in the middle of the sentence (replacing a comma). In that case the word "now" does not take an initial capital.
    – MetaEd
    Jul 4, 2012 at 20:42
  • 3
    While I think you are mostly right, I would add that there is an element of writer intent. Therefore in the OP's example, 'now' could be capitalized, not must be. It depends on if the writer is aiming more for "Ok, now I want..." or "Ok. Now I want...".
    – devios1
    Jul 4, 2012 at 20:43
  • 1
    @chaiguy yes you are right I edited my answer. In the light of the cmos' statement the user can decide if s/he has to capitalize or not.
    – user19148
    Jul 4, 2012 at 20:53
  • In that case, there should be four dots, three for the ellipsis and one for the period.
    – asmeurer
    Dec 20, 2012 at 5:13
  • @DjangoReinhardt that's what I learned in school. Don't know if the rules have changed since then.
    – asmeurer
    Jan 5, 2016 at 21:55
-1

All of your answers are correct, but it is up to the person writing the sentence. If he/she wants to emphasize a word then he/she would use a capital letter on the next word.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    How can all of the other answers be correct if it's always up to the writer? And I don't think capitalizing the first word of a sentence places particular emphasis on that first word; could you explain why you think capitalization in this case is a form of emphasis?
    – Marthaª
    Dec 20, 2012 at 4:14

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.