Technically, an ellipsis is a series of dots (usually three) used to represent the omission of a word or words, but in the age of e-mail, they are often used to represent a pause in thought or “to be continued.” Needless to say, there’s a lot of confusion about their purpose, but there’s even more confusion about their spacing.

When used in the traditional sense, both AP and Chicago styles call for one space on either side, so treat an ellipsis as you would an actual word; however, note that Chicago puts spaces between the dots and AP doesn’t. In case you’re wondering about this post’s title, “ellipses” is the plural of “ellipsis.”