How To Use Dashes Examples

Dashes can also be used to show repetition of a word or phrase for effect and to separate repetitive phrases.

How to use dashes examples. If you are looking to use a two word phrase as a descriptor or modifier you can use an en dash. Rather than placing parentheses around a phrase within a statement writers can opt to surround the phrase with an em dash on either end. In formal writing you should use the bracket rather than the dash as a dash is considered less formal. Hyphens are not the same as dashes. You can sometimes use a dash to help readers see that certain words are meant as an introduction or conclusion to your sentence.

Books paper pencils many students lacked even the simplest tools for learning in nineteenth century america. In other words if you are renaming a nearby noun with something that contains commas use dashes to set if off. A colon e g it depends on one thing trust a semicolon e g it depends on trust it always has three dots used as a pause for effect e g it needed trust. Examples include conflicting sides of an argument democrat republican debate connecting a prefix or suffix to an unhyphenated compound post civil war new york based and directional references los angeles san diego bus east west highway. Along with its use in place of brackets and colons a dash can be used when writing dialogue for example to show that someone speaking has been interrupted.

Em dashes save the day when other punctuation would be awkward. Joe a student who is also an athlete actor and writing coach does not have enough time to join the committee. After a split second of hesitation the second baseman leaped for the ball or rather limped for it. For more on using commas for appositives see commas eg. Use dashes to set off appositives that contain commas.

Dashes can be used to create emphasis in a sentence. En dashes are also used to represent a conflict connection or direction between two words or compounds. Dashes can be used to add parenthetical statements or comments in much the same way as you would use brackets. They are used to make a connection between two words working as a unit or when two words have a combined meaning. A common example of this is the term award winning in the phrase the award winning scientist the en dash is used to modify the two words to make them into a single descriptor.

These are known as compound words. The name em indicates that the dash is roughly the size of the letter m. Examples include mother in law or pick me up. Here a dash is used in place of brackets. An em dash is used to indicate a break in a sentence or question.