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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

dash

0Hi,02br
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00I think a guru or serveral gurus have expressed their dislike of the use of dashes in many cases. I see these types of sentences where a person would resort to the use of a dash eventhough without it will not make a difference or resort to other types of punctuation will do the job as good as it or better. Why? 02br
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00Republican politicians want to solve this problem -- created by government -- by putting another layer of government ...02br
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00The sentence would be fine like these: 02br
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00Republican politicians want to solve this problem that was created by government by putting another layer of government ...02br
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00Republican politicians want to solve this problem, created by government, by putting another layer of government ...02br
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00ANOTHER CASE:02br
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00Plenty of discussion recently (some of it acrimonious) sounds like people are saying that alll the other clubs are better than your putter -- and that your putter is inherently defective.02br
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00This oculd be perfectly fine if we take the dash out:02br
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00Plenty of discussion recently (some of it acrimonious) sounds like people are saying that alll the other clubs are better than your putter and that your putter is inherently defective.02br
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00Could use a dash highlight your thought on the matter and as to the forms of what comes after a hyphen is almost left open for someone -- any type of structure is possible? 02br
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00ANOTHER CASE:02br
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00Some has distorted this language and set the members of the Trinity against each other -- as when the Son is described as the object ...02br
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00This could be perfectly good if a dash is removed in my opinion. WHY resort to a dash? 0-
  

Top answer

0In many cases the dash is simply a device for creating an informal style. It suggests a pause in the writer's thoughts -- or that some new thought has suddenly occurred to him. It gives the impression of spontaneity.

— CalifJim

  • 0In many cases the dash is simply a device for creating an informal style.
  • It suggests a pause in the writer's thoughts -- or that some new thought has suddenly occurred to him.
  • It gives the impression of spontaneity.
  • I find that it is most common in letters to friends -- certainly not to anyone like a mayor or academic advisor.
  • 02br 00CJ 0-
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4 Answers
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0In many cases the dash is simply a device for creating an informal style. It suggests a pause in the writer's thoughts -- or that some new thought has suddenly occurred to him. It gives the impression of spontaneity. I find that it is most common in letters to friends -- certainly not to anyone like a mayor or academic advisor. 02br
00CJ 0-
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0Thank you, CalifJim. 02br
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00You wrote this:02br
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00In many cases the dash is simply a device for creating an informal style. It suggests a pause in the writer's thoughts -- or that some new thought has suddenly occurred to him. It gives the 05000 of spontaneity. I find that it is most common in 05100 to friends -- certainly n
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0>It suggests a pause in the writer's thoughts -- or that 01u00some new thought02u00 has suddenly occurred to him.02br
00This is a random/chance choice of one thought from a set of several. Thus the plural is there in the background. 02br
00> He shouldn't abandon our faith in Jane, but to accept the fact that 01u00some element02
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1i00 some02i00 indicates indefiniteness, not plurality, even though it is probably more frequently used with plurals.02br
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00With the singular it is quite like 01b00a02b00/01b00an02b00. Here's the meaning:02br
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01i00 ... or that 01u00a02u00 new thought
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