How To Use A Pair Of Dashes In A Sentence

Place em dashes around non essential information or a list in the middle of a sentence like you would with commas.

How to use a pair of dashes in a sentence. Use an internal series of appositives or modifiers enclosed by a pair of dashes appositives will rename and modifiers will describe something named elsewhere in the sentence. It s longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. 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. An em dash is used to indicate a break in a sentence or question. When used to extend a sentence a dash can replace a semicolon a colon or three dots used as a pause for effect.

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. They are also more intrusive. Use a longer em dash to join independent clauses with words like and but as or and for. Note that when dashes are used in place of parentheses surrounding punctuation should be omitted.

To set off parenthetical material that you want to emphasize. Dashes are considered less formal than 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. Dashes are often used to signal an abrupt change in a sentence. If you want to draw attention to the parenthetical content use dashes.

Here are some different situations when you can use an em dash. The name em indicates that the dash is roughly the size of the letter m. Dashes are used to separate groups of words not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. A dash is a little horizontal line that floats in the middle of a line of text not at the bottom. 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.

It is used in the same manner as a parenthetical expression. Dashes have three uses. To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use. Because this kind of series serves as a dramatic interruption within the sentence and may even have commas you must use the dash before it and after it. Generally speaking the dash does not have a unique role.