Dashes (em dash)
Setting elements off from the rest of the sentence
Setting off Elements
| DASHES | OTHER PUNCTUATION |
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A dash sets off a comment that is loosely related to the central idea of the sentence. Visually they draw the reader's eye to a part of a sentence. Informally, they are used for aside comments that are less central to the topic of the sentence. In addition , they are formally used to separate a list of items that already includes commas. |
A comma sets off a comment closely related to the central idea of the sentence. The comment usually modifies, qualifies, clarifies or adds details. |
1 ASIDE COMMENTS Edward Lee – our politically passionate mayor – is running for office again. |
Edward Lee, the incumbent mayor, is running for office again |
2 SUDDEN BREAKS OF THOUGHT / INTERRUPTION / PAUSE Will he — can he — win the election without the Hispanic vote? a pause The reasons — if these walls could talk — are many. an interruption
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Will he…can he… win the election without the Hispanic vote? (Ellipsis points can also serve to indicate a pause.)
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3 A SERIES WITHIN A CLAUSE Edward Lee — father, actor, businessman, and mayor — is running for office again. Dashes work well to visually separate a phrase already containing commas from the main sentence.
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Edward Lee, our current mayor, is running for office again. Edward Lee wears "many hats" (e.g., father, actor, businessman, and mayor.)
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4 AN INTRODUCTORY LIST OF ITMES Food, dry clothes, water and cell phone — everything is packed.
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Food, dry clothes, water and cell phone: everything is packed. (Use a colon.) |
5 A SUMMARIZING COMMENT His campaign is ready — everything is in place. emphasis: indeed!
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The boat is packed; everything is in place. (Using a semicolon has less impact). |
6 A SHORT EXPLANATION There was only one thing left to do — leave!
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There was only one thing left to do: leave! (No visual impact.) |
7 LINES OF DIALOG — Will he he run?
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JOURNALIST: "Will he he run?" (See Quotation Marks #1 .) ANALYST: "How could he not."
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8 ATTRIBUTION "To be or not to be." — Shakespeare
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"To be or not to be." (Shakespeare)
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Common Mistake
| ERROR | FIX |
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You can't stay here for the weekend-leave! (dash vs. hyphen) Using a hyphen in place of a dash changes the meaning. |
You can't stay here for your weekend leave. (permission from military authority for time off) A dash is longer than a hyphen. Use two hyphens, or set your "auto correct" preferences in the Word program to create a dash whenever you type two hyphens. An em dash on Windows is (Alt+Shift+-), on Macintosh is(Opt+Shift+-)
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Resources
- AP Stylebook. The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. 42nd ed. New York: Basic Books, 2007 . (327) Print.
- Fowler's Modern English Usage. Ed. R. W. Burchfield. Rev. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. (750) Print.
- MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. NewYork: Modern Language Association of America. 2009.( 3.2.5) Print.
- Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6th ed. Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association, 2010. (4.06) Print.
- Swan, Michael. Practical English Usage. 4th ed. 2009: Oxford University Press. (477) Print.
- University of Chicago Press. The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. (6.87-96) Print.
Practice
Using dashes
Is the dash used correctly?
- Select the option: correct or incorrect.
- Read the feedback to check your response.