How To Use Dashes Instead Of Commas

There s never a requirement to use a dash.

How to use dashes instead of commas. So it s not a matter of it ever being correct to use a dash. Note that dashes are rather informal and should be used carefully in writing. After a split second of hesitation the second baseman leaped for the ball or rather limped for it. When a thought is left unfinished however a dash should be used instead. Use a dash to cut off dialogue.

For example i never said he began when typing a completed sentence a comma precedes the closing quotation mark and the attribution. Dashes are often used informally instead of commas colons and brackets. To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use. A dash is a horizontal line that shows a pause or break in meaning or that represents missing words or letters. An em dash is made by typing two hyphens.

Em dashes save the day when other punctuation would be awkward. You could live your whole life and write reams of english and never use it. A colon can be used immediately after the greeting in a formal letter less formal letters tend to use a comma in this location. The dashes have a slightly more emphatic feel making the reader focus on this information that is set inside the special marks. You use them to surround something that seems a bit out of place in the sentence an aside a clarification or a commentary.

Parenthetical phrase with commas. Commas can also be used to set off parenthetical information but they do. Please accept my application for the position advertised in the news and observer. Use a dash in a sentence to set off parenthetical information and provide emphasis. For instance em dashes can replace parentheses at the end of a sentence or when multiple commas appear in a parenthetical phrase.

To whom it may concern. A dash may or may not have a space on either side of it. In general you can think of parentheses commas and dashes as a continuum of marks. Place em dashes around non essential information or a list in the middle of a sentence like you would with commas. Using a colon between a verb and its object or complement.