elem

   'elem' <nr> <firstNode> .. <lastNode> 'be2'|'be3'|'tr3'|'tr6'|->
   'qu4'|'qu8'|'he8'|'he20'

This keyword is used to define elements based on nodes and its type (see section Element Types in the appendix for the correct node-order). For example,

elem 1 1 2 3 4 qu4

creates a shell element with four nodes.