Totalitarianist

"I am done", logically, would mean that you are the action which has been completed, it seems to me. Logically, I think, it should be "I have done".

"It is healthy food" does not make sense to me. We call it "healthy" food in virtue of the fact that it is good for us. It ought to be, therefore: "It is healthful food."

Also, should it be "I am good..." or "I am good...."? That is, with four periods. I would say the latter: however, I often see only three.
If someone knows, please, do tell me. I am not certain.

Monkeybot

A standard ellipsis has only three periods.

Totalitarianist

But what about when you are removing text from a quotation. For example (quoting Zinoviev):

"The development of commercial capital is, however, entirely different. . . . But this retreat remains permanent, for the development of finance capital reduces commerce absolutely and relatively and transforms the once proud merchant into a mere agent of an industry monopolized by finance capital."

In this quotation I omitted an entire sentence. In this quotation, however, we do not omit the period of the sentence preceding the deleted sentence.

An ellipsis when not within a sentence, I think, occurs after the period (or before the sentence). I think, then, that we ought to be using four periods. Many authors do this.

Ensign Morituri

But what if it comes at the end of a sentence? After all, a three period ellipsis within a sentence is followed by a period at the end of the sentence, so it should follow that.... I wonder what the MLA guidebook has to say about this issue.

Like the French. "I have done" or "I have finished" doesn't sound so awkward when you add context:

"I have done the work" or "I have finished the job."

Ensign Morituri

In this case, you do use three periods. It seems to me that the "period of the sentence preceding the deleted sentence" comes into its own, as it were, at the end of the abridged quotation. I recommend the MLA Handbook for answers to this and other grammar issues. It's a very useful book.

Monkeybot

But what if it comes at the end of a sentence? After all, a three period ellipsis within a sentence is followed by a period at the end of the sentence, so it should follow that.... I wonder what the MLA guidebook has to say about this issue.

Then you have a period next to an ellipsis, with a space in between. Example: I am not a man. ... In fact, I am a woman. (Pretending I omitted a sentence)

The ellipsis itself still has only three periods. This is according to AP style, anyway; I'm not sure what MLA would say.

Totalitarianist

On second thought, I think Monkeybot is correct with regards to quotations. However, what I meant to do was arrive at a satisfactory conclusion (from the use of the ellipsis) on the usage of three periods at the end of sentences in general; not in quotations.

beastmaster

"Healthy" and "healthful" are synonyms.

Language does not have to be "logical," it only has to be clear. Nobody can misunderstand the obvious meaning of "healthy food."

Totalitarianist

Yes, but saying that a food is healthy in that context makes no sense whatever.

Dictionaries are often incorrect. When an error becomes common, dictionaries print it as correct, thus making our language needlessly illogical -- more so. This is the case with the word "healthy".

Another word is "hopefully". It is an adverb. "Hopefully I do not die." What does "hopefully" modify in that sentence?

Totalitarianist

My last response reminded me of another word. That word is "whatsoever". It sounds like an archaism to me. In my mind it is preferable to say, ". . . [the word "healthy"] in that context makes no sense whatever," rather than with "whatsoever" instead of "whatever". For if we were to use "whatsoever", why not use also "wheresoever" or "howsoever" in other sentences? If we do not use these words, I think we should not use "whatsoever". For moreover we consider "soever" as archaic.