Hi & welcome, Richard!  Recently you wrote in a message to mark lewis:   
      
    ml> please also forgive me my typing style with all lower case and using   
    ml> three dots instead of periods... i've been typing on the computer like   
    ml> this for over 30 years and it is s very hard habit/style to break...   
      
    RM> A close blogger friend of mine for the last 13 years has the same   
    RM> habit of using ellipses to end all of his sentences. The same as you   
    RM> I guess, you just get used to it and it becomes a "signature" style.   
      
      
              Bob Satti, who was another member of net 1:153, often used dots.    
   He told us he'd developed the habit in days of yore when people would be timed   
   out if they took too long to think without using the keyboard.  Dallas & I saw   
   this happen with users on our BBS who went to attend to their kids, e.g., and   
   failed to notice the warning PLEASE RESPOND... [chuckle].   
      
              From a grammatical standpoint Mark writes in "run-on" sentences...   
   a no-no when I was in school... but unlike some other folks, he's very careful   
   re how many dots he uses.  In American usage it's considered acceptable to use   
   the ellipsis to represent a pause nowadays when the exchange is informal.  I   
   made a point of checking that out awhile ago because I do it myself sometimes.   
      
              In summary, the ellipsis may be used as a less abrupt substitute   
   for the dash... or it may, with the addition of a period, be used at the   
   conclusion of a sentence.  I've used it both ways in this rely.  Mark's usage   
   is not quite what the textbook authors had in mind there.  But he's consistent   
   about it, and he knows how to employ white space to make things easy to   
   read....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)