'Read more' PHP link

Hi,

I have the following code whereby I have a category page with about 5 article excerpts. Each excerpt have a heading, pic and a string of text with 35 word limit. I have added a ‘read more’. It it currently outside of the paragraph. I however want to include the read more at the end of the string. I am new to PHP so I am not sure how to place it.

<h3><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
             <?php
              ob_start();
              the_content('Read the full post',true);
              $postOutput = preg_replace('/<img[^>]+./','', ob_get_contents());
              ob_end_clean();
              ?>

              <?php
              $excerpt = $postOutput;
              $order   = array("<p>", "</p>");
              $replace = '';
              #$newstr = str_replace($order,$replace, $excerpt);
              #$newstr = strip_tags($newstr);
               $newstr = strip_tags($excerpt);
                                  echo'<p>'.string_limit_words($newstr,35) .'</p>';

                                        ?>
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">...read more</a>

I appreciate your help.

Thanks.