Comma or Hyphen? Please advise.

Hi,

Which sentence is grammatically correct? Do I have a comma or hyphen after the corporation name? Or do I write it a different way? Thanks for your help.

The corporation you work for - Mantel, is manufacturing a secret drug called Nectar and giving it to its soldiers.

The corporation you work for - Mantel - is manu

Just a side note, with nothing to do with the commas: ...and giving it to its soldiers.

Most corporations do not have soldiers, so this pronoun leaves me wondering who or what the soldiers do belong to. Of course, if this is science fiction, then perhaps the corporation does have soldiers.

Hi Grammar Geek,

I asked the same question as you did, and found this introduction to a computer game called Haze:

"Twenty-five years in the future. Governments have outsourced military operations to private multinational corporations. As Jake Carpenter, a newly enlisted soldier in the Mantel army, you are seeking fulfillment and thrills by fighting for a good cause.

Ah. What a lovely thought, isn't it? Thanks for clarifying.

its an appositive sentence

the company you work for, Mantel, bla bla nectar drug

Mantel further descibes the company you work for

A hyphen is not the correct punctuation mark; it should be a dash, which is longer. I strongly prefer a set of commas here, though. The company name does not cause a notable interruption of sentence flow and can easily be given as an appositive set of with commas.

Hyphen should be used sparingly, and avoided if possible in my opinion.

I would phrase it like this: Mantel, the corporation you work for, is manufacturing a secret drug called Nectar and giving it to its soldiers.

Hey, ya'll: This was from back in 2007. I think the original poster got an answer then, so let's turn our energies to current posts that don't have an adequate answer yet.