![]() ![]() We seldom see the dash used this way in formal, academic prose. "How many times have I asked you not to " Jasion suddenly stopped talking and looked out the window.Ī dash is sometimes used to set off concluding lists and explanations in a more informal and abrupt manner than the colon. In writing dialogue, the dash is used to show breaks in thought and shifts in tone: Usually, there are no spaces between the dash and the letters on either side of a dash, although the dash is frequently shown that way in documents prepared for the World Wide Web and e-mail for typographical and aesthetic reasons (because the WWW authoring and e-mail clients have little control over line-breaks). Usually, you get an en dash (see below) with the option + hyphen key, and you get the larger em dash (used more frequently) with option + shift + hyphen keys.ĭo not use dashes to set apart material when commas would do the work for you. ![]() ![]() This can vary, though, from program to program. In most word-processors, the dash is created by holding down the option key and hitting the key that has the underline mark above the hyphen. Use a dash (or two hyphens on old-fashioned typewriters) or dashes as a super-comma or set of super-commas to set off parenthetical elements, especially when those elements contain internal forms of punctuation: All four of them≻ob, Jeffrey, Jason, and Brettdid well in college. The dash is a handy device, informal and esentially playful, telling you that you're about to take off on a different tack but still in some way connected with the present course only you have to remember that the dash is there, and either put a second dash at the end of the notion to let the reader know that he's back on course, or else end the sentence, as here, with a period. ![]()
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