# Sentence endings

In all cases, make sure you have punctuation, aside from one exception with ellipses.

In dialogue, you often face sentences that are half-complete, abruptly cut or trailing off. You have four options: a tilde (~), an em dash (ー), a comma (,) or an ellipses (...). Choose the one that fits the best with the situation.

- Ending with a tilde (~) as punctuation is acceptable. Sometimes, this fits the tone better than an exclamation mark or an ellipses.
- If a strong emphasis is needed, using ~! or ~? is acceptable.
- If a line ends with an em-dash (ー), start a new sentence on the next line, treat it as if you used a full stop.
- Line ending with a comma (,): the next follow-up line (from the same speaker) should start lowercase with no prefixed punctuation.
- Ellipses (...) have multiple use cases but still should be used as sparingly as possible. See ellipses section below for further instructions.

#### Interrobangs

<span style="color: rgb(224, 62, 45);">!?</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the Japanese one. </span>****?!****<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the English one.</span>

#### Tilde (~)

- Do not overuse them.
- Can convey playfulness or imply that the character is speaking in a teasing tone.
- Does not require the use of a full stop after it, but it can sometimes be followed by an exclamation or question mark.

#### Ellipsis (...)

<p class="callout info">Plural: “ellipses.” Not to be confused with the mathematical term, “ellipse,” which shares the same plural writing.  
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Make sure that each ellipsis only has 3 full stops/dots. </span><span style="color: rgb(224, 62, 45);">NO FOUR-DOTTED ELLIPSES. NO TWO-DOTTED ELLIPSES EITHER.</span></p>

****Ellipses can indicate a meaningful pause in speech.****  
“Meaningful” is the key word here because speech has pauses of all sorts, differing in length and sentence positioning and having an ellipsis for every single pause would result in a script with more ellipses than words. We want to avoid that. In this usage, have a space after the ellipses (think of it as a “super-comma”).

- Assuming the previous sentence trails off for a considerable pause, If the next line from the same speaker is the same sentence, start the sentence with an ellipsis.

<p class="callout success">“That’s… not a good idea.”</p>

****Ellipses can indicate trailing in or trailing out of speech.****<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> Insert an end ellipses for the first line.</span>

<p class="callout success">It’s almost as if you’re… // dead.  
It’s… // almost as if you’re… // dead.</p>

If an ellipsis is used within a single sentence (i.e. not connecting two separate sentences on different lines), do not put a space after it.

<p class="callout success">e.g. “It’s almost as if you’re...dead.”</p>

****Ellipses can continue the thoughts of already finished lines.****<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> Insert a start ellipses for the second line.</span>

<p class="callout success">I don’t hate you. // …or do I?</p>

****Ellipses can be used to trail off in a standalone line, but with ending punctuation.****  
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Do not include any spaces before, and treat it following as the ending punctuation it is paired with. </span>

<p class="callout success">What the…?  
You son of a…!  
You’re my… Never mind.</p>

<p class="callout info">Note: Since the next line from the same speaker is a new sentence, start that sentence capitalized.</p>

The first letter in a sentence starting with an ellipsis should not be capitalized if the line is picking up where the previous one left off. The only exception to this rule is the following:

- A trail-in ellipsis can also express doubt or hesitancy

<p class="callout success">e.g. “...Are you sure?”</p>