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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Semicolon and em dash
Is it okay to use em dash in semicolons?
He went to Italy to see his child; his child had been sick -- and sad -- for many years. (em dash after semicolon). Is that acceptable?
EDITED to fix formatting. Using the dash on either side of a word results in the word being lined out.
He went to Italy to see his child; his child had been sick -- and sad -- for many years. (em dash after semicolon). Is that acceptable?
EDITED to fix formatting. Using the dash on either side of a word results in the word being lined out.
Top answer
You can use the dashes that way, but I would suggest the entire sentence would be better if it were: He went to Italy to see his child, who had been sick -- and sad -- for many years.
- You can use the dashes that way, but I would suggest the entire sentence would be better if it were: He went to Italy to see his child, who had been sick -- and sad -- for many years.
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4 Answers
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You can use the dashes that way, but I would suggest the entire sentence would be better if it were:
He went to Italy to see his child, who had been sick -- and sad -- for many years.
?
He went to Italy to see his child, who had been sick -- and sad -- for many years.
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Thanks, I understand that. I just made up that sentence in a hurry to give an example; that's all. What I really want to know is whether an em dash could be used within semicolons.
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There's really no difference in whether the sentence was formed following a period and starts with a capital letter or follows a semi-colon. It's still an independent clause and can have sub-sections that are set off by commas, dashes, parentheses, etc.
As a matter of style (not grammar) when your sentences are so long that you have multiple punctuations marks to guide the reader through
As a matter of style (not grammar) when your sentences are so long that you have multiple punctuations marks to guide the reader through
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