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Believer Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Can I do it in formal writing too?

According to a grammar book, dashes are used to link two parts of a sentence or to emphasize by-the-way, parenthetical expressions. I went onto (Should I say, on to???) peruse some good examples and no where did I see expressions formed in dashes with conjuntive words like and and but, but in the posts here in this forum I do and did see some instances of it. Is it acceptable in formal writng?

from a post here; I think from CalifJim:

Sometimes, for the sake of clarity -- and that is left to the judgement of the author -- an extra comma makes sense.
  

Top answer

A pair of dash can be used to set off an interruptive word, phrase, or dependent clause within a sentence. I think it does not matter what you put between a pair of dash.

— Welkins2139

  • A pair of dash can be used to set off an interruptive word, phrase, or dependent clause within a sentence.
  • I think it does not matter what you put between a pair of dash.
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8 Answers
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A pair of dash can be used to set off an interruptive word, phrase, or dependent clause within a sentence.

I think it does not matter what you put between a pair of dash.
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Search The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com
with
"-- and that"
and you will find:

... Circuit Gilles Villeneuve -- and that has made this week vintage ... appreciate an athlete -- and that's what these guys are ...

... and go somewhere
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Also:

  1. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Saudi-Cat-and-Dog-Ban.html

    ... play with them -- but it isn't a widespread custom ...

    September 8, 2006 - By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Parenthetical remarks set off by dashes in informal personal communications (such as posts) and in journalism (especially in what we might call "Sunday Supplement Style") are perfectly acceptable. These are marks of a chatty style. They should not be used in a formal paper such as might be submitted to a scientific journal or to a similar academic organization for publication. They are ra
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CalifJimParenthetical remarks set off by dashes in informal personal communications (such as posts) and in journalism (especially in what we might call "Sunday Supplement Style") are perfectly acceptable. These are marks of a chatty style. They should not be used in a formal paper such as might be submitted to a scientific journal or to a similar academic organizat
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I plead ignorance. I will have to learn more about that term.
Is there an en dash, too? Aren't these two simply the dash and the hyphen?

CJ
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Yes, essentially an en dash is a hyphen and an em dash is a 'dash'. The en/em terms are just old typesetter terms to distinguish between the two and it is not really necessary to know about them.

— em dash

– en dash

although I notice that Microsoft still calls them emdash and endash rather than hyphen and dash if you go to 'insert symbol'. It actually takes an effort to
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Ugh. I have to use em dashes and en dashes so often I know the ascii code for them.

En is used to connect things like a date range: Nov. 17-19 (this would use an en-dash, but on this computer I can't make one).

However, 98% of the people who read what you write won't care if it's an en dash or not, and of the remaining 2%, I work with a dozen of them, so you're pretty safe using
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