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Re: [Groff] Correct protocol for making changes


From: Zvezdan Petkovic
Subject: Re: [Groff] Correct protocol for making changes
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2007 22:48:42 -0500
User-agent: Mutt/1.4.2.2i

On Sat, Feb 03, 2007 at 12:01:45AM +0100, Gunnar Ritter wrote:
> Zvezdan Petkovic <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, Feb 02, 2007 at 07:44:10PM +0100, Werner LEMBERG wrote:
> > >   . The proper way to write an ellipsis is `.\|.\|.\&', optionally
> > >     starting with `\&'.  Please don't omit the `\|' -- it looks quite
> > >     ugly in PostScript output if the dots don't have enough horizontal
> > >     separation.
> >
> > Doesn't it look typographically even better as `\|.\|.\|.\&'.
> > I think this is what eqn sequence `. . .' gets translated into.
> 
> In general, this depends on language and style guide.

I know that it can depend on language.
Some style guides are more authoritative than other.
I was referring to English and usage in this form:

        .ds eL \|.\|.\|.\&
        sentence goes on\*(eL

where the first \| provides that extra spacing between the last word and
the first dot.  Yet, the spacing is smaller than a full space which is a
little unseemly.

I'm not sure from Werner's explanation whether he assumes the usage with
the space between the word and ellipsis:

        .ds eL .\|.\|.\&
        sentence goes on \*(eL

or the usage with no space between the word and ellipsis:

        sentence goes on\*(eL

> For example, the Chicago Manual of Style uses to put whole
> spaces between the dots, and this indeed is common usage
> in American books.

Exactly.  Diana Hacker's "A Writer's Reference" states:

        "The ellipsis mark consists of three spaced periods."

and proceeds to give an example:

        "over . . . 300 milligrams"

Furthermore, it says:

        "If you delete a full sentence or more in the middle of a quoted
        passage, use a period before the three ellipsis dots."

It also cautions against using the ellipsis mark at the beginning or end
of a quotation unless some words have been cut from the end of the final
sentence quoted.

She also shows an example of use of the ellipsis to mark a hesitation
or interruption in speech to suggest unfinished thoughts.

        "Before falling into a coma, the victim whispered,
        'It was a man with a tattoo on his. . . .'"

To my eye, \| space looks better than a full length space here.
Perhaps I am wrong and the full space should be used between the word
and ellipsis.

> p.s. While `. . .' has a special meaning in troff, it is
> doubtful whether it should be used in emails or other text
> files, see <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/quotes.html>.

I followed Werner's style here (see the part of his quoted message at
the top).  I usually don't use these quotes even in troff.
I write
        .q "quoted text"
instead.

Best regards,

        Zvezdan




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