0
A Blinkin' Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

dashes---causing problems or solving them?

0 I've found much info about dashes on this forum, but I'm still not 100% sure about when and how to use them.02br
02br
00 If I have sentences like these:02br
02br
00 Therefore, before John could go to school, he had to prepare his school supplies; only then could he go leave home--making the first day of school a memoriable one.02br
02br
02br
00 He regarded these people-01del00ones who have come from different backgrounds02del00-as the best of the best.02br
02br
00 He suffered for ten years--being ridiculed, slandered and rejected, and even deserted by his family.02br
02br
00 This was the second age--the Age of Kings.02br
02br
00 The cursed, the punished, or the blessed--with him, there is no such parlance!02br
02br
00 So it was proved that Veronica didn't to school--if you still think so, aren't you blind?02br
02br
00 Larry shouldn't climb the mountain--not that he could do so, even if he tried.02br
02br
00 In any of these cases, could the dash be replaced by a comma, semicolon, or colon? How about if the writing is formal, informal, religious, or secular?0-
  

Top answer

0To me, the dashes are appropriate here. 0-

— Davkett

  • 0To me, the dashes are appropriate here.
  • 0-
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

19 Answers
0
0To me, the dashes are appropriate here. (The first example, however, is the weakest, and not just because of the typos-- 01i01font00go leave home02font02i00 and 01i01font00memoriable02font02i00.)02br
02br
00I suspect one finds fewer examples of dashes in f
0
0
0 I like the dash. It lets one add emphasis and (dramatic) pauses.02br
02br
00I think the summary in 01i00Webster's Third New International Dictionary 02i00is excellent:01blockquote
01blockquote
11b207. THE DASH22b22br
22br
21b207.022b20 In its function in writing
0
0
0 So, in formal or religious writing, using the same sentence structures as the examples, what punctuation do they use in place of the dash?0-
0
0
0 First, the dash 01b00is02b00 used in formal writing. (I don't know about religious writing.) 02br
02br
00Second, there is no direct substitute for the dash. One would have to rewrite the sentence. Where the dash is used to emphasize a sentence element, the comma provides less emphasis and sometimes less clarity. Where very different thoughts or se
0
0
0Hi,02br
02br
00I'd like to add a01i00 caveat02i00 to the discussion. My advice is that if you want to use dashes, it should not be done frequently. Personally, I'd recommend about once a year, or less. 02br
02br
00If you teach an English class about dashes without discussing that, then every other sentence they write for ever after
0
0
0 01blockquote
01cite10Rvw12cite10First, the dash 11b10is12b10 used in formal writing. (I don't know about religious writing.) 12br
12br
12blockquote
10I think I may not have an accurate definition of what is covered by 'formal' writing. When it was paired here with 'religious' writing, I thi
0
0
0 I really think the dash is used 01font00--02font00 and appropriately used 01font00--02font00 quite often. It allows one more expressivity and versatility 01font00--02font00 like dancing the tango argentino instead of just the waltz.02br
02br
0
0
0
0My writing handbook says this: "where colons provide formal introductions, dashes introduce unanticipated guests".02br
02br
00Also: "A dash is a bold piece of punctuation. When used alone, a dash attaches one idea to another with more vigour than a comma would. When used in pairs, dashes highlight words or phrases by isolating them from the rest of a sentence. Think of das
0
0
0 00i don't have any writing guides handy, but i think that clive makes an important point. like any piece of punctuation, dashes serve their purpose. however, the added emphasis of a dash can be dangerous; writers need to understand that a dash tends to disrupt sentence flow. like an exclamation mark, the dash draws attention to itself. just my opinion...02br
02br
00-an
0
0
1b00Forgive me, but what do you mean by a “dash.” All the examples here show two hyphens. These are not dashes.02b02br
02br
00There are three types of dashes, namely Hyphens, Em Dashes and En Dashes 02br
02br
00The hyphen is the shortest of the three and is used most commonly to combine words (compounds such as "well-being" and "advanced-lev
0

Related Questions