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Christian Say Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Dash followed by comma in a list?
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In this sentence,
"This summer, I read The Communist Manifesto, several of Plato’s dialogues — including the Apology of Socrates and Crito, and excerpts from Cicero and Thomas Aquinas."
I am confused about what punctuation should properly follow "Socrates and Crito,"
Should I first close the phrase with a dash and then follow that with a comma (and Crito —, and excerpts),
just use a dash (and Crito — and excerpts) or just use a comma (as in the example)?
Also, from what I know I should set my em dash off with spaces, is that correct?
Your help is appreciated, thanks!
In this sentence,
"This summer, I read The Communist Manifesto, several of Plato’s dialogues — including the Apology of Socrates and Crito, and excerpts from Cicero and Thomas Aquinas."
I am confused about what punctuation should properly follow "Socrates and Crito,"
Should I first close the phrase with a dash and then follow that with a comma (and Crito —, and excerpts),
just use a dash (and Crito — and excerpts) or just use a comma (as in the example)?
Also, from what I know I should set my em dash off with spaces, is that correct?
Your help is appreciated, thanks!
Top answer
You should use a second m-dash and omit the comma: This summer, I read The Communist Manifesto, several of Plato’s dialogues — including the Apology of Socrates and Crito — and excerpts from Cicero and Thomas Aquinas. Personally, I am not comfortable with this guideline, however, and in such a case, I try to recast the sentence: This summer, I read The Communist Manifesto, excerpts from Cicero and Thomas Aquinas, and s everal of Plato’s dialogues — including the Apology of Socrates and Crito.
- You should use a second m-dash and omit the comma: This summer, I read The Communist Manifesto, several of Plato’s dialogues — including the Apology of Socrates and Crito — and excerpts from Cicero and Thomas Aquinas.
- Personally, I am not comfortable with this guideline, however, and in such a case, I try to recast the sentence: This summer, I read The Communist Manifesto, excerpts from Cicero and Thomas Aquinas, and s everal of Plato’s dialogues — including the Apology of Socrates and Crito.
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2 Answers
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You should use a second m-dash and omit the comma:
This summer, I read The Communist Manifesto, several of Plato’s dialogues — including the Apology of Socrates and Crito — and excerpts from Cicero and Thomas Aquinas.
Personally, I am not comfortable with this guideline, however, and in such a case, I try to recast the sentence:
This s
This summer, I read The Communist Manifesto, several of Plato’s dialogues — including the Apology of Socrates and Crito — and excerpts from Cicero and Thomas Aquinas.
Personally, I am not comfortable with this guideline, however, and in such a case, I try to recast the sentence:
This s
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