Ellipsis (…)

An ellipsis [ … ] proves to be a handy device when you’re quoting material and you want to omit some words. The ellipsis consists of three evenly spaced dots (periods) with spaces between the ellipsis and surrounding letters or other marks.

If the omission comes after the end of a sentence, the ellipsis will be placed after the period, making a total of four dots. … 

The ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in the flow of a sentence and is especially useful in quoted speech:

Hyphen (-)  En Dash (–)  Em-Dash (—)

The hyphen (-) is the minus key in Windows-based keyboards. This is a widely used punctuation mark. A hyphen is used to separate the words in a compound adjective, verb, or adverb. For instance:

            Trace flashed your-mine-and-you-know-it smile.

            Two-minute mile

An en-dash I (–) is almost as wide as ‘N’. En-dash is used to express a range of values or a distance. To make an en-dash: press Ctrl and the dash on the number keypad

            The Las Vegas–St. Louis flight was late.

            3–5 inches long

An em-dash ( — ) is almost as wide as “M”. Em-dash is used to show a break in thought or a shift of tone. To make an em-dash: press Ctrl Alt and the dash on the number keypad.

Carmen made a mental note—That girl will have to go.

She had the memory of Nate’s hands and mouth on her body—a mere twelve hours ago.