Composition Mini-Lesson #49

DASHESFrom the UWF Writing Lab’s 101 Grammar Mini-Lesson

Series

Dashes are constructed of two side-by-side hyphens and, like commas and parentheses, set off nonessential information in a sentence such as nonrestrictive modifiers and parenthetical expressions. Unlike commas or parentheses, however, dashes give this set-off information greater emphasis.

Use a dash to indicate sudden shifts in tone, new or unfinished thoughts, and hesitations in dialogue: If she found out—he did not want to think what she would do.

Use a dash to set off introductory series and concluding series and explanations: The country was the most beautiful he had seen—green, rolling hills dotted with stands of dark pine and etched with stone walls.

Keep in mind that word processors sometimes remove the seam visible in a dash so that it no longer looks like two hyphens stuck together. It should still be a dash, however, as long as you continue to construct it with two consecutive keystrokes from the hyphen key.

Consider the following sentences, adding or deleting dashes where necessary.

• What would we do if someone like Adolph Hitler that monster appeared among us?

• What would we do if someone like Adolph Hitler—that monster—appeared among us?

• Although Betsy took up massage somebody had told her that it would increase her human potential she soon discovered that she was too ticklish.

• Although Betsy took up massage—somebody had told her that it would increase her human potential—she soon discovered that she was too ticklish.

Consider the following sentences, adding or deleting dashes where necessary.

• Narcissus—the most modern of mythological lovers, fell in love with himself.

Avoid mixing punctuation when setting off nonessential information as the above example does.

• Narcissus—the most modern of mythological lovers—fell in love with himself.

OR

• Narcissus, the most modern of mythological lovers, fell in love with himself.