What is the purpose of dashes in sentences?

1. To set off material for emphasis. Think of dashes as the opposite of parentheses. 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.

What is the purpose of using dashes?

It's longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. Dashes are used to separate groups of words, not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. (learn more about the difference between a dash and a hyphen here). There are three forms of dashes: em, en, and the double hyphen.

What is the point of dashes in a sentence?

A dash (—) is a punctuation mark used to set off an idea within a sentence and may be used alone or in pairs. Dashes interrupt a thought in a more dramatic way than a phrase enclosed in commas, but less theatrically than parentheses.

Does a dash mean to or through?

The en dash is used to represent a span or range of numbers, dates, or time. There should be no space between the en dash and the adjacent material. Depending on the context, the en dash is read as “to” or “through.”

What is the difference between a hyphen and a dash?

A hyphen joins two or more words together while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements. The two are sometimes confused because they look so similar, but their usage is different. Hyphens are not separated by spaces, while a dash has a space on either side.

Dashes | Punctuation | Khan Academy

What are the 3 types of dashes?

In writing, there are three different punctuation marks that most people refer to as dashes. These are the hyphen, the en dash, and the em dash.

How do you use dashes correctly?

Use dashes to mark the beginning and end of a series, which might otherwise get confused, with the rest of the sentence: Example: The three female characters—the wife, the nun, and the jockey—are the incarnation of excellence. Dashes are also used to mark the interruption of a sentence in dialogue: Example: “Help!

What is an en dash example?

Use an en dash when you want to: Express date and number ranges: The en dash implies that there is distance between a range of numbers or dates. For example, “plant in August–October,” or “read pages 10–25.” En dashes are also used to report scores, such as, “Our team won 3–0.”

What is the difference between a hyphen and en dash and an em dash?

The most obvious difference is the length. Hyphens are shortest, followed by the en dash, and then the em dash. Fun fact: the en dash is the width of the letter “N”, while the em dash is the width of the letter “M”. A hyphen's main job is to let the reader know that two or more words in a sentence are linked together.

How do you use an em dash in the middle of a sentence?

The em dash can be used in place of a colon when you want to emphasize the conclusion of your sentence. The dash is less formal than the colon. After months of deliberation, the jurors reached a unanimous verdict⁠—guilty. The white sand, the warm water, the sparkling sun⁠—this is what brought them to Fiji.

What effect do dashes have in writing?

Quick Use: Use a dash to connect independent clauses or to inerrupt a main clause in a way that creates dramatic effect. Dashes function in two ways: to signal interruptions in a sentence (basically like parentheses), and to connect independent clauses.

What are dashes called in writing?

The dash (—), also called the em dash, is the long horizontal bar, much longer than a hyphen. Few keyboards have a dash, but a word processor can usually produce one in one way or another. If your keyboard can't produce a dash, you will have to resort to a hyphen as a stand-in.

Why do you use dashes instead of commas?

Using a dash in place of a comma

Em dashes can be used in pairs to replace commas when writing a parenthetical or interruptive phrase. The dashes have a slightly more emphatic feel, making the reader focus on the information that is set inside the special marks.

How do you use a dash to connect two sentences?

Use an em dash to join independent clauses.

Most commonly, a dash connects an independent clause with another, with a related thought plus a conjunction like or, but, yet, as, for, and after the second dash. The dash works somewhat like parentheses or commas, but it is used where a stronger punctuation is needed.

How do you put a dash between words?

How do you use dashes in text?

A dash is expressed as an "em dash" ( — ) in printing, is expressed in plain text as two hyphens ( -- ) and is used in place of a comma, colon or semicolon for greater emphasis.

How do you use a dash at the end of a sentence?

Use a dash to set off an interruption that is closely relevant to the sentence but not grammatically part of it, such as a list, illustration, restatement, summary, shift in thought or tone, or dramatic point. Only one person wears that perfume–my mother.