How To Use A Pair Of Dashes In A Sentence

Note that when dashes are used in place of parentheses surrounding punctuation should be omitted.

How to use a pair of dashes in a sentence. Dashes have three uses. To set off parenthetical material that you want to emphasize. A dash is a little horizontal line that floats in the middle of a line of text not at the bottom. The five of us already unashamedly drunk entered the party amidst much pomp and fanfare. It is usually used as an alternative to another type of punctuation.

An em dash is used to indicate a break in a sentence or question. Dashes are often used to signal an abrupt change in a sentence. Place em dashes around non essential information or a list in the middle of a sentence like you would with commas. The name em indicates that the dash is roughly the size of the letter m. Rather than placing parentheses around a phrase within a statement writers can opt to surround the phrase with an em dash on either end.

What is an em dash and when should you use it. It s a technique that can be useful in writing an appellate brief where lengthy and complex sentences are not uncommon. To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use. I hope this discussion and these examples show how the use of a pair of dashes can be used to effectively set off and thus bring attention to a statement made within the middle of a lengthy sentence. Dashes are considered less formal than parentheses.

If you want to include the parenthetical content more subtly use parentheses. In other words if you want to include information that is not absolutely necessary in forming a complete sentence but that is important to the idea you are communicating introduce this information into the main sentence between dashes. Use a longer em dash to join independent clauses with words like and but as or and for. A pair of em dashes can replace a pair of parentheses. An em dash also called a long dash or thick dash is approximately the width of the letter m which is where it earns its name.

It is used in the same manner as a parenthetical expression. Dashes are used to separate groups of words not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. Here are some different situations when you can use an em dash. A pair of em dashes can enclose a phrase clause or word mid sentence in the same manner as a pair of commas or parentheses but as stated by mark tredinnick the effect is unique placing emphasis on the isolated parenthetic expression. They are also more intrusive.