Language/English/Grammar/More-Uses-of-the-Dash

Further Uses of the dash (–) This is a continuation of the lesson on the hyphen and the dash. The uses of the dash will be treated in this lesson.

Uses of the Dash (–) • Sometimes in written English, there is a necessity for a whole sentence to interrupt or enter into another sentence in order to pass across the complete message without ambiguity. An example: ◇ The rivers – I cannot remember all their names – have been dredged.

• The dash is used to show a break in a complete sentence. ◇ If he entered through the door, he must still be in there – so let’s keep our fingers crossed.

• At times, a single placed between a repeated word is used to emphasize the repeated word. An example: ◇ The boy made new friends – friends that are more harm than good.

• A single dash can be used to set aside a summary or compile a list of items. For example: ◇ Vanilla, flour, eggs, nutmeg – these are necessary in baking a cake. ◇ She bought three items – a cake tin, a spatula and an egg whisk.

• Dashes can also appear in pairs in a sentence. In order to indicate an explanatory part of a sentence or an afterthought, two dashes can be used like parentheses. An example: ◇ Everybody – including children – couldn’t eat the cake because it was filled with sugar.