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Park sang joon Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

The usage of long-dashes

Laws and ethics are not quite the same. In general, laws are society's attempt to formalize?reduce to written rules?the general public's ideas about what is considered right and wrong conduct in various spheres of life. However, it is rarely possible for written laws to capture all of the subtle shadings that people include in the codes of ethics they use to govern their lives. Ethical concepts, or moral principles?like the people who believe in them?are more complex than written rules of law. Ethical concepts are ideas about right or moral conduct, and they cannot always be expressed in the formal language of law or in rules.
[Source: Reading for Results Ninth Edition by Laraine Flemming]
I'd like to know here if a couple of long-dashes is used in lieu of a couple of commas.
Thank you in advance for your help.
  

Top answer

The two instances of long dashes in the passage cannot be replaced by commas. Long dashes separate the enclosed thought more strongly than commas do. Here the enclosed thoughts are sufficiently separate from the main text to warrant long dashes rather than commas.

— Anonymous

  • The two instances of long dashes in the passage cannot be replaced by commas.
  • Long dashes separate the enclosed thought more strongly than commas do.
  • Here the enclosed thoughts are sufficiently separate from the main text to warrant long dashes rather than commas.
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1 Answers
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The two instances of long dashes in the passage cannot be replaced by commas. Long dashes separate the enclosed thought more strongly than commas do. Here the enclosed thoughts are sufficiently separate from the main text to warrant long dashes rather than commas.
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