LaTeX Beginners Guide

Time for action – comparing dots to ellipsis

We will write an ellipsis in two ways: firstly by simply writing dots, secondly by using a dedicated command. Let's compare!

1. Create a new document in TeXworks:

   \documentclass{article}
   \begin{document}
   Here are three dots... compare them to the ellipsis\ldots
   \end{document}

2. Check out the difference:
   

What just happened?

We used the command \ldots to print out an ellipsis—three consecutive dots with a wider spacing. Such dots may indicate a pause, an unfinished thought, or an omitted word. When we just accumulated dots, they were typeset tightly together. However, it's common to print those dots wider.

Setting ...