Hi! Good evening here (yes it's over than midnigth actually in France...) I'm new on the forum and I have to ask you something. I am a french author, fantasy, scyfy, etc, and I am actually in the middle of translating in english (thank you Capitain Obvious) one of my novel. I've search on the web if someone have a answer to my question, but I didn't find a real yes or no answer so, I've decided to ask here as you have already (iwhtout knowing it) help me before. So! Could I use the terms 'er' or 'erm' in a middle of a setence when my character is hesitating? Like this setence from this book : “I’m sorry, could you repeat, I’ve not understood you request,” Tara said. “Sorry, Tara. Erm… Could you find me something really specific on your databases?” The italic is for an AI, and the setence next is from a real person. This is the first time I am facing that kind of "problem" if it is one, so I need to ask around. Thank you for any kind of response!
Sure, why not? You see "uh" and "huh" more frequently in fiction, but I suppose "er" and "erm" would be acceptable. I'd only use them sparingly, though. Those random phonetic utterances can get annoying in a hurry. So do other stylistic things is they're not styled enough.
People use them in conversations so there is no reason you can't. You could use hesitations of this type to give a character a distinct speaking voice.
Thank you so much. This book is nearly finished and this is the first time in more than 400 pages I use this "words" ^^ It was needed in this particular sentence, but maybe I'll find it would be usefull in another dialogues at the begining after correcting and rereading phase. Thank you to you all ^^
