How To Use Dashes In The Middle Of A Sentence
Here s what the chicago manual of style has to say about it.
How to use dashes in the middle of a sentence. How to know when to use dashes or commas or braces when describing something in the middle of a sentence. Everything i saw in my new neighborhood from the graceful elm trees to the stately brick buildings reminded me of my alma mater. Take it out and the sentence makes sense. The words between a pair of dashes may or may not form a complete sentence. Just as terminal punctuation comes at the end of a sentence mid sentence punctuation is used somewhere in the middle.
The information inside the dashes is off topic. When using the abbreviation etc should it be parenthetical i e. An em dash can be used to mark a list placed in the middle of a sentence where commas are already used. It is usually used as an alternative to another type of punctuation. Examples include the comma semicolon colon dash hyphen apostrophe and quotation marks.
Two dashes can emphasize material in the middle of a sentence. A dash can be used to add emphasis at the beginning middle or end of a sentence. Generally speaking the dash does not have a unique role. How to use semicolons to set off a list in a the middle of a sentence. When used as parentheses dashes are alternatives to brackets or commas.
Dashes are often used to signal an abrupt change in a sentence indicating that the reader should pay close attention to what comes next. Use a dash to show a pause or break in meaning in the middle of a sentence. When used to extend a sentence a dash can replace a semicolon a colon or three dots used as a pause for effect. Someday he s going to hit one of those long shots and his voice turned huffy i won t be there to see it taken from 6 90. This helps avoid confusion regarding what is part of the list and where the list starts and stops.
The material inside the dashes relates to the information in the rest of the sentence but it acts as an interruption to the main point that you re making. If the break belongs to the surrounding sentence rather than to the quoted material the em dashes must appear outside the quotation marks. Dashes are used to separate groups of words not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. My brothers richard and john are visiting hanoi. Hieu vu minh unsplash.