How To Use Dashes In A List
Do not overuse dashes or use them in place of other punctuation.
How to use dashes in a list. There are three forms of dashes. When the list comes first it s better to use a dash to connect the list to the clause. It s an em dash before peter sellers and an en dash between 1925 and 1980 note. Dashes are often used to signal an abrupt change in a sentence indicating that the reader should pay close attention to what comes next. The vegetarian gasped in horror when he saw lining the wall of the cabin a collection of animal heads moose deer bears squirrels all dead.
Use a longer em dash to join independent clauses with words like and but as or and for. Where parentheses indicate that the reader should put less emphasis on the enclosed material dashes indicate that the reader should pay more attention to the material between the dashes. A single dash can emphasize material at the beginning or end of a sentence. To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use. Dashes are used to separate groups of words not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does.
There used to be a real me but i had it surgically removed peter sellers 1925 1980 note. A good way to remember the difference between these two dashes is to visualize the en dash as the length of the letter n and the em dash as the length of the letter m. You have to use an em dash when crediting. Use a dash to prepare for a list a restatement an amplification or a dramatic shift in tone or thought. However you can also use spaced en dashes to set apart a few words in a sentence like this bit before resuming the original thought.
People aged 18 21 a sequence e g. Place em dashes around non essential information or a list in the middle of a sentence like you would with commas. The shortest and most common is the hyphen which is used for clarifying open compounds such as four armed villains as opposed to four armed villains for separating number groups in phone and social security numbers and for connecting written out fractions like three quarters. Dashes can be used for emphasis in several ways. Its main use is to indicate a range of values e g.
Dashes add drama parentheses whisper. 78 85 a z or a connection e g. Em en and the double hyphen. The most common types of dashes are the en dash and the em dash.