When do we use dashes in writing

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Take a quick test. As the values are inclusive, the fire lasted 5 days. Good News and Bad News Good news! There are specific rules about when to use a semicolon, a colon, or three dots, so you have to know what you're doing if you choose one of them.

One of the good things about a dash is that it can be used as a substitute for all three. I wish you would—oh, never mind.

Rule 1. Words and phrases between dashes are not generally part of the subject. Example: Joe —and his trusty mutt— was always welcome. Rule 2. Dashes replace otherwise mandatory punctuation, such as the commas after Iowa and in the following examples:. Without dash: The man from Ames, Iowa, arrived. With dash: The man—he was from Ames, Iowa—arrived. Rule 3. Some writers and publishers prefer spaces around dashes. Example: Joe — and his trusty mutt — was always welcome. Lying, stealing, cheating, committing adultery—which is the greatest sin?

To struggle with meaning, to edit, to combine sentences—these activities are well known to the struggling writer. In some instances, however, you can use a dash instead, especially if you want to make the insertion more noticeable: The building next to ours—the one with the all-cedar exterior—was engulfed in flames. Use Dashes to Embed a Series or List of Appositives A single appositive or modifier can easily be set off from the rest of the sentence in commas, but you must use dashes when you insert a series of appositives or modifiers.

The essential qualities of an effective writer—discipline, effort, inspiration—can be learned by regular writing. With the help of her assistant—a high-speed personal computer—she produced a delightful letter. Use Dashes to Set off an Emphatic Repetition You can emphasize an important point by placing a dash or comma at the end of the sentence and then repeating a key word or phrase: Hal is a computer, the ultimate computer. Leavitt is a gambler, a compulsive gambler. He was disturbed by the warning—the warning that everyone else ignored.

All rapists should be severely punished—punished in a way they will never forget. Suggest an edit to this page? The — fiscal year was the most profitable year for the new business. The en dash may also be used to indicate a connection between two words. Use an en dash when you need to connect terms that are already hyphenated or when you are using a two-word phrase as a modifier.

When the dash is used in this way, it creates a compound adjective. See the following examples: The pro-choice—pro-life argument is always a heated one. The Nobel Prize—winning author will be reading from her book at the library tonight. Real-time suggestions, wherever you write. Dashes Grammarly.

The pro-choice—pro-life argument is always a heated one.