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Kins_10 Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

Hyphen

0I extracted these two sentences from an English newspaper. I want to know why hyphen is used before 'who served' and 'hoping'? Who actually served the cabinet? were it the ministers?02br
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00Those making phone calls to ministers 01i00- who served02i00 in the previous cabinet- have been pleasantly surprised off late at the speed at which their calls have been answered.02br
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00Others had done so -01i00 hoping02i00 to be appointed back to the cabinet.02br
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00By the way, what does off late mean?02br
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00Thanks.0-
  

Top answer

02br 00"off late" - a misprint for "of late",0-

  • 02br 00"off late" - a misprint for "of late",0-
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3 Answers
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0 They are not hyphens, but rather are en-rules used to indicate a clause in parenthesis.02br
00"off late" - a misprint for "of late",0-
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0Hi,02br
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00Those look to be hyphens but as an expert, I have to trust you. By the way, what are en-rules? Before asking, I did try to do some research but had hard time trying to find anything that I can understand online. Help. I think you can use a hyphen in most cases where a comma is used and also, it can replace a clause in parentheses under the right circumstances.
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0 "en-rules" = printer's term for what most people call dashes.02br
00Yes, you could use commas or parentheses "( )". People tend to use dashes to indicate a longer pause before and after the clause if the sentence is spoken. 0-

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