Jiimaan wrote on Jun 5^th, 2009 at 1:00pm:

db ; "BTW - As someone who uses these puppies to an extreme... ... - correct me --- dumb down the rules if you must ... show me a better way..." I'll be glad to help.  A simple sentence contains a verb and a subject.  The vast majority of properly designed sentences will end with a period.  If you wish to connect two related but separate sentences, a semi-colon(;) is the proper tool; use them sparingly. The ellipsis is used to indicate missing words.  They are usually used in a quote: "BTW - As someone who uses these puppies to an extreme...show me a better way...."  It the missing words at the end of the sentence, use four periods; it they are missing from the middle of the sentence, use three. Good luck.  I'll be keeping an eye on your progress. :o

That is a fairly limited view of the use of an ellipsis. It can also be used in situations where an em dash would typically be used. For example: it can be used as an aposiopesis (i.e. at the end of a sentence trailing off into silence). It is also commonly used as a pause in the sentence.