How do you write an ellipsis following an abbreviation?


Consider the following sentence (off of the top of my head just to illustrate an example):



I hate the N.C.A.A....but I understand that it's a necessary evil.



When following an abbreviation with an ellipsis, should you have three or four dots? Should the period following the last "A" in "N.C.A.A." be omitted or included, given the ellipsis right afterwards?



Answer



The technique you are using is actually called aposiopesis. It's when you pause in a sentence for an effect.


There are two ways of doing an aposiopesis, using an ellipsis or an em dash.


However, when using ellipsis for aposiopesis after abbreviations, could be quite tricky. Ellipsis when used at an end of a sentence always have four dots, three-dot ellipsis and a period. So I would assume that is what is done for the period after abbreviations.


But there's always the alternative of just using an em dash if unsure.


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